04/13/2014
Speechless...
Speechless...
The National Security Agency (NSA) is once again mired in scandal. In the previous year, Edward Snowden revealed the large scale data collection program that the NSA was conducting on ordinary Americans. However, with the new discovery of the deadly Heartbleed Virus, the NSA has once again been caught engaging in shady activities. Daniel Distant of Christian Postdescribed the Heartbleed Virus: “The Heart Bleed virus allows hackers to exploit a flaw in the OpenSSL encryption software used by a majority of major websites to steal data like credit card numbers, passwords, and other personal information.”
Clearly, the NSA was trying to take advantage of a virus that would ease their access to sensitive information. A bug like this would grant them an easy avenue to collect passwords which they would be able to use to freely access a plethora of sensitive information. The Bloomberg Reportclaimed that the NSA knew of the virus, and used it to their advantage, “The U.S. National Security Agency knew for at least two years about a flaw in the way that many websites send sensitive information, now dubbed the Heartbleed bug, and regularly used it to gather critical intelligence, two people familiar with the matter said.”
Have intelligence agencies overstepped their boundaries? By exploiting the vulnerabilities afforded by the Heartbleed Virus, the NSA allowed criminal hackers, other governments, and other negative forces to use the bug to their advantage as well. What is the purpose of an intelligence agency if it fails to stop, and even takes advantage of the very threats that it was designed to fight? Most people would agree that reform is needed. The NSA and CIA are in dire need of a makeover. Both agencies are useful and provide a valuable service to the American people. However, in recent years, they have stopped protecting the American people and have instead turned towards antagonizing them.
Photo credit: CNet
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