NSA hacks system administrators to ‘blackmail’ them

Director of United Progressives Paul Barrow said the National Security Agency tracks down the private email and Facebook accounts of system administrators to “blackmail” them into cooperation.

According to Press TV citing a secret document provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, NSA tracks down private accounts of system administrators before hacking their computers to gain access to the networks they control.

Barrow asked, “Why would they need that kind of information?” adding “They need that kind of information because they want to manipulate them in some way. They want to blackmail them. They want to bribe them or they want to find system administrators who might be cooperative.”

Barrow explained, “The system administrator has a wide-ranging and complete control over networks that provide financial information and added, “They can block trades. They can delete databases.”

The NSA document includes data that can be harvested from computers belonging to “sys admins” including network maps, customer lists and business correspondence.

It is unclear how the NSA ensures that it excludes Americans from the intrusions. The document explains that the agency scours the Internet to find people it considers “probable” administrators, implying that the wrong person could be targeted.