‘NSA wiretaps without warrant to detect hacking foreign governments’

The NSA would be allowed to wiretap the Internet to and from the US without needing a warrant, looking for evidence of hacking attempts by foreign powers. This is according to new documents released by whistleblower Snowden.

The documents include two memos from 2012 from attorneys at the US Department of Justice, which show that the NSA has permission to tap internet cables to investigate hacking activities. The wiretapping would take place on American soil and without prior authorization from a judge.

In the US, Snowden’s revelations have caused a stir because of the large-scale monitoring of Americans by the NSA, including storing metadata of telephone traffic. This has now led to adjustments. Now it would once again appear that traffic of American citizens is being intercepted, without prior verification.

The NSA was allowed to wiretap traffic to suspicious Internet addresses and monitor connections used to transmit certain malware without warrant, but only if those activities could be linked to state hackers, according to the New York Times, which had access to the documents. However, the documents would also describe the NSA targeting hackers without identifying that link.

The document goes on to say that “there is a lot to gain” from surveillance activities based on the “hacker’s signature”. A spokesman for the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence told the NYT that it should come as no surprise that the government is targeting foreign state hackers engaged in “threatening cyber activities.” He also called this a legitimate aim.