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Hissyspit

(45,788 posts)
Mon Dec 9, 2013, 08:11 AM Dec 2013

Revealed: Spy Agencies' Covert Push to Infiltrate Virtual World of Online Games (Snowden/NSA) [View all]

Source: The Guardian

Revealed: spy agencies' covert push to infiltrate virtual world of online games

NSA and GCHQ collect gamers' chats and deploy real-life agents into World of Warcraft and Second Life


James Ball
theguardian.com, Monday 9 December 2013 07.00 EST

To the National Security Agency analyst writing a briefing to his superiors, the situation was clear: their current surveillance efforts were lacking something. The agency's impressive arsenal of cable taps and sophisticated hacking attacks was not enough. What it really needed was a horde of undercover Orcs.

That vision of spycraft sparked a concerted drive by the NSA and its UK sister agency GCHQ to infiltrate the massive communities playing online games, according to secret documents disclosed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The files were obtained by the Guardian and are being published on Monday in partnership with the New York Times and ProPublica.

The agencies, the documents show, have built mass-collection capabilities against the Xbox Live console network, which boasts more than 48 million players. Real-life agents have been deployed into virtual realms, from those Orc hordes in World of Warcraft to the human avatars of Second Life. There were attempts, too, to recruit potential informants from the games' tech-friendly users.

- snip -

The NSA document, written in 2008 and titled Exploiting Terrorist Use of Games & Virtual Environments, stressed the risk of leaving games communities under-monitored, describing them as a "target-rich communications network" where intelligence targets could "hide in plain sight".

Games, the analyst wrote "are an opportunity!". According to the briefing notes, so many different US intelligence agents were conducting operations inside games that a "deconfliction" group was required to ensure they weren't spying on, or interfering with, each other.

If properly exploited, games could produce vast amounts of intelligence, according to the the NSA document. They could be used as a window for hacking attacks, to build pictures of people's social networks through "buddylists and interaction", to make approaches by undercover agents, and to obtain target identifiers (such as profile photos), geolocation, and collection of communications.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/09/nsa-spies-online-games-world-warcraft-second-life

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Ok I welcome them newfie11 Dec 2013 #1
Meanwhile, the big Fish are having their communications hand-delivered PeoViejo Dec 2013 #2
in other words... Javaman Dec 2013 #3
They're also watching porn and listening to phone sex jsr Dec 2013 #5
how do I get that job? LOL nt Javaman Dec 2013 #6
Talk dirty to a federal employee? Ikonoklast Dec 2013 #12
that's just eww. LOL nt Javaman Dec 2013 #14
I'm almost wondering if the analyst had to come up with a proposal Blue_Tires Dec 2013 #9
k&r for exposure. n/t Laelth Dec 2013 #4
The March of Folly. nt bemildred Dec 2013 #7
They aren't too hard to spot One_Life_To_Give Dec 2013 #8
Do they have... onyourleft Dec 2013 #11
And they get paid! jwirr Dec 2013 #10
LOL! Best gov't 'contractor' boondoggle ever! Peace Patriot Dec 2013 #13
I Couldn't Let The Opportunity Pass... OneAngryDemocrat Dec 2013 #15
Love the cartoon! snot Dec 2013 #16
Maybe they can use the info to recruit... Indi Guy Dec 2013 #17
That was sort of the plot of "The Last Starfighter" Jim Lane Dec 2013 #18
Leroy Jenkins was a terrorist Ichingcarpenter Dec 2013 #19
deconfliction.... Jesus Malverde Dec 2013 #20
I can just imagine the session at which this document was written jmowreader Dec 2013 #21
I guess that explains this weird thing that happened to me in Second Life Generic Other Dec 2013 #22
ah, I see MisterP Dec 2013 #23
Surpassing just mere data collection nilesobek Dec 2013 #24
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