NSA (Photo : Reuters)
Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden recently leaked a set of documents claiming that the NSA along with the British Government Communications Headquarters are hacking popular anti-virus and security software in order to obtain confidential user information.
According to Reason, among the information acquired by the NSA and GCHQ are user web traffic, email accounts, usernames and passwords. Additionally, the two agencies are also looking for unpatched security loopholes. One of the most targeted antivirus software is from Kaspersky Lab.
According to The Intercept, the NSA managed to get ahold of sensitive user information by monitoring outgoing and incoming communication between Kaspersky Lab's servers and antivirus software.
Aside from Kaspersky, the NSA is also monitoring at least 23 antivirus software. The list includes Avast, Avira, AVG, Bit Defender and F-Secure.
The leaked documents also claimed that the GCHQ managed to secure a warrant that will allow the agency to reverse-engineer Kaspersky Lab's software. Additionally, the agency also viewed Kaspersky Lab's software is an obstacle for its hacking operations.
A top secret warrant renewal request from GCHQ was published by The Intercept and reads, "Personal security products such as the Russian anti-virus software Kaspersky continue to pose a challenge to GCHQ's CNE [Computer Network Exploitation] capability and SRE is essential in order to be able to exploit such software and to prevent detection of our activities."
Earlier this month, Kaspersky reported that its computer system was hacked by a "nation state." Kaspersky added that the hackers try to integrate spy software into the company's computer. The hackers were also trying to snoop into Kaspersky's ongoing investigation regarding advance hacking attacks, virus and malware analysis, and detection method
