Espionage dates back to ancient China, India, and Egypt. Greece and Rome also made use of spies and assassins. Espionage is associated with conflict and war, however, in modern times, nations have been spying on their own people. Not with people on foot with binoculars and other gadgets, they spy from miles away, through the internet and phone taps. The most controversial of the espionage programs has been the United State’s National Security Agency, or NSA for short. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden recently revealed the NSA’s dubious methods. They monitor the internet activity of every American, as well as have access to their phone calls. This is an obvious infringement of the Constitution. The effectiveness and safety of the NSA has been
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They then install cameras and phone taps within your home, and they tell you that they are protecting you. Would these practices make anyone feel safe, let alone actually protect anyone? The NSA utilizes similar methods, only they work in the field of cybersecurity. They deliberately weaken the security of tech products, installing what they call “backdoors”. This makes it easier for the NSA to spy on U.S. citizens, but it does not stop others from getting in. Holes in security created by the NSA give criminal hackers a figurative backdoor into people’s data and information.(Nicks) An issue in the security of Windows allowed Russian hackers to access the information of Ukrainian leaders. Non affiliated hackers potentially could have exploited the flaw for the time it was available. (Yardon) Similar events can happen when the NSA installs backdoors. A cryptography writer and technologist, Bruce Schneier, spoke on the subject: “We have examples of the NSA going in and deliberately weakening security of things that we use so they can eavesdrop on particular targets.” He also posed the question: “Should we compromise the security of everybody in order to access the data of the few?” It was reported that 90 percent of the people that are effected by the NSA’s methods and are caught in their dragnet of surveillance are innocent citizens.
They then install cameras and phone taps within your home, and they tell you that they are protecting you. Would these practices make anyone feel safe, let alone actually protect anyone? The NSA utilizes similar methods, only they work in the field of cybersecurity. They deliberately weaken the security of tech products, installing what they call “backdoors”. This makes it easier for the NSA to spy on U.S. citizens, but it does not stop others from getting in. Holes in security created by the NSA give criminal hackers a figurative backdoor into people’s data and information.(Nicks) An issue in the security of Windows allowed Russian hackers to access the information of Ukrainian leaders. Non affiliated hackers potentially could have exploited the flaw for the time it was available. (Yardon) Similar events can happen when the NSA installs backdoors. A cryptography writer and technologist, Bruce Schneier, spoke on the subject: “We have examples of the NSA going in and deliberately weakening security of things that we use so they can eavesdrop on particular targets.” He also posed the question: “Should we compromise the security of everybody in order to access the data of the few?” It was reported that 90 percent of the people that are effected by the NSA’s methods and are caught in their dragnet of surveillance are innocent citizens.