XKeyscore

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Presentation as PDF; 27 MB

XKeyscore ( XKS ) is spy software developed by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC, now Leidos ) for the US intelligence service NSA . The Brazilian newspaper O Globo and the Australian daily newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald published information and details on the existence and functioning of the system for the first time on July 8, 2013. The reports are based on documents by the whistleblower Edward Snowden .

The authority itself explains: XKeyscore is a "system for using digital network intelligence / analysis structure".

The XKeyscore publications are part of the global surveillance and espionage affair that exposed massive US and UK surveillance of global communications . The XKeyscore publications made it clear for the first time that Australia and New Zealand were involved in the UKUSA agreement . Its members - the internationally oriented intelligence services of Great Britain ( GCHQ ), USA (NSA), Australia ( DSD ), Canada ( CSEC ) and New Zealand ( GCSB ) - are also known as " Five Eyes ". In Germany, XKeyscore is verifiably used by the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).

function

According to the documents, XKeyscore is designed to use metadata and other data, for example, to output keyword lists from search engine entries specifically for a single target person. Also, chats and e-mails can be evaluated. It should also be possible to create a temporary, unfiltered collection of all data for this person in real time . Target persons can be defined by name, browser characteristics , telephone numbers or nicknames as well as by contact lists in instant messaging . Identification via IP address or the language used is also possible, for example all search queries in German from a country of the axis of evil . Inquiries such as PGP encryption or VPN connections in and from Iraq are also named as feasible examples.

Internet data can only be stored briefly, connection data for around 30 days. Data can be moved to other databases and stored there longer.

business

XKeyscore locations

According to the presentation from 2008, XKeyscore consisted of a network of more than 700 servers, which were distributed over 150 different locations. The system would be linearly scalable - i.e. expandable by simply adding additional servers.

The Sydney Morning Herald named four surveillance facilities in Australia - the US Australian Joint Defense Facility southwest of Alice Springs and the three systems operated by the Australian intelligence service Defense Signals Directorate (DSD) Shoal Bay Receiving Station near Darwin , Australian Defense Satellite Communications Station in Geraldton and HMAS Harman outside of Canberra . The fifth facility in the ocean is Waihopai Station near Blenheim , which is operated by the New Zealand intelligence service Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).

XKeyscore offers the possibility to search the data from three databases, which are operated by the following organizations:

  • Special Collection Service (SCS; special collection service ), a cooperation between NSA and CIA, which is also managed under the code name F6.
  • Foreign Satellite Collection (FORNSAT; monitoring of foreign satellites)
  • Special Source Operations (SSO; operating unit for special sources), a sub-organization of the NSA, which should be responsible for the collection of metadata, which it should obtain from the British secret service GCHQ, among others.

According to the time, the SCS is said to have been described several times as a special unit that is supposed to be responsible for monitoring, wiretapping and penetrating foreign computers, but also for bugging foreign messages.

commitment

The presentation, published by the Guardian , refuted previous claims by US officials that Snowden's statement that queries can be carried out without a judicial order from the FISC was a lie. The user dialog shown for a specific monitoring measure offers a simple template for selecting which purpose would be pursued. In order to circumvent the law, which is supposed to prevent US citizens from becoming the target of surveillance, it is sufficient for the NSA analysts to select the menu item “… no information indicates that the Target person is in the USA " .

As early as 2007, 850 billion call data and 150 billion unspecified Internet data were stored.

In the USA, experts in dealing with XKeyscore are employed by companies such as L-3 Communications , Tasc or CyTech , who state knowledge in dealing with XKeyscore in the requirement profiles of vacancies in their job boards .

In Germany

Excerpt from an NSA presentation about XKeyscore and the collaboration with BND and BfV.
In Germany, from 2007 to 2013 the main tasks of the NSA were Strategic Mission J ( industrial espionage ) and Strategic Mission K (monitoring of political leaders).

From the secret NSA documents disclosed by Edward Snowden, which Spiegel was able to see, it emerged that there was close cooperation with the German intelligence services. In January 2013, NSA employees reportedly noted in the documents that the BND had worked to “influence the German government so that it interprets data protection laws more laxly in the long term in order to create greater opportunities for the exchange of secret service information. “In an interview broadcast in early 2014, Edward Snowden once again confirmed Germany's access to XKeyscore. In August 2015, Die Zeit published the wording of the contract with which the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the BND bought the NSA's spy software in April 2013. Of the 500 million data records originating from Germany each month that were generated as part of the entire monitoring activities, 180 million entries came from XKeyscore in December 2012.

The then President of the BfV Hans-Georg Maaßen denied in 2013 that his authority had access to the databases. He confirmed that the BfV was testing the software. However, no data would be collected for further processing. In February 2016 it became known that the BND was using the NSA monitoring tool XKeyscore without an IT security concept and in "active operation" at the BfV. The head of the XKeyscore project group at the BfV said before the NSA committee of inquiry : "We don't know what the thing does when it is connected to the Internet". Netzpolitik.org quotes Maaßen: “Should go into operation, have it checked for security. Do n't know the source code . "

Overview: Applications and capabilities of XKeyscore

  • XKeyscore presentation from 2008 (PDF; 27 MB)

  • Page 11: metadata processing

  • Page 12: plug-ins : email, HTTP , chat, phone numbers

  • Page 13: storage options

  • Page 16: Selector : PGP Usage in Iran

  • Page 19: Selector: Search for a German speaker in Pakistan

  • Page 23: selector: extracting information from intercepted documents

  • Page 24: Selector: All attackable machines in country "X"

  • Page 26: Selector: All intercepted documents with IAEA reference

Web links

Commons : XKeyscore  - collection of images, videos and audio files

English web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Philip Dorling: Edward Snowden reveals Australia's Links To Secret US Spy Program ( English ) In: The Sunday Morning Herald . July 8, 2013. Archived from the original on August 2, 2013. Retrieved on August 2, 2013.
  2. ^ A b c Konrad Lischka, Christian Stöcker: XKeyscore: How NSA surveillance works . In: Der Spiegel . July 31, 2013. Archived from the original on August 2, 2013. Retrieved on August 2, 2013.
  3. ^ Glenn Greenwald: XKeyscore: NSA tool collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet' ( English ) In: The Guardian . July 31, 2013. Archived from the original on March 20, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  4. ↑ Andre Meister: Secret test report: The BND breaks law and constitution dozen of times - in Bad Aibling alone (updates) - netzpolitik.org. In: netzpolitik.org. September 1, 2016, accessed November 22, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Electrospaces.net: Secret report reveals: German BND also uses XKEYSCORE for data collection. In: electrospaces.blogspot.de. September 22, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2016 .
  6. ↑ a b Zeit Online -Author cwe: Listening technology: Verfassungsschutz tests NSA program . In: The time . July 21, 2013. Archived from the original on August 2, 2013. Retrieved on August 2, 2013.
  7. ↑ a b c d Live blog from the Intelligence Investigation Committee: "XKeyscore has been in operation for a week and it's running" .
  8. ↑ a b Stefan Krempl: NSA committee: BND has used XKeyscore without a security concept - heise online. In: heise.de. February 26, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2016 .
  9. ↑ a b Wired Staff: The BND used NSA spy software without a security concept. In: wired.de. September 5, 2016, accessed November 22, 2016 .
  10. ↑ a b c Spiegel Online -Author syd: BND and BfV use NSA spy program XKeyscore . In: Spiegel Online . July 20, 2013. Archived from the original on July 21, 2013. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  11. ↑ Patrick Beuth: Snowden revelations: NSA also reads Facebook chats . In: The time . July 31, 2013. Archived from the original on August 2, 2013. Retrieved on August 2, 2013.
  12. ↑ a b c Patrick Beuth, Kai Biermann: XKeyscore: The NSA's largest trawl . In: The time . August 1, 2013. Archived from the original on August 2, 2013. Retrieved on August 2, 2013.
  13. ↑ a b Florian Rötzer: XKeyscore or total information sovereignty . In: telepolis . Heise Online. 2013-08001. Archived from the original on August 2, 2013. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  14. ^ Glenn Greenwald: XKeyscore: NSA tool collects "nearly everything a user does on the internet" ( English ) In: The Guardian . July 31, 2013. Archived from the original on August 2, 2013. Retrieved on August 2, 2013.
  15. ^ Christian Stöcker, Ole Reissmann: Job advertisements: US espionage companies are looking for XKeyscore specialists . In: Der Spiegel . July 22, 2013. Archived from the original on August 2, 2013. Retrieved on August 2, 2013.
  16. ↑ Photo Gallery: Data 'Made in Germany' Spiegel Online, August 5, 2013
  17. ↑ United States SIGINT System January 2007 Strategic Mission List. (PDF; 2.0 MB) National Security Agency, January 8, 2007, accessed November 5, 2013 .
  18. ↑ SIGINT Mission Strategic Plan FY 2008–2013. (PDF; 2.7 MB) National Security Agency , October 3, 2007, accessed November 5, 2013 .
  19. ↑ Andre Meister: Internal document proves: BND and the Federal Chancellery knew about industrial espionage by the USA against Germany. In: netzpolitik.org. May 27, 2015, accessed May 27, 2015 .
  20. ^ Norddeutscher Rundfunk: Snowden Interview (NDR): The manuscript (page 3) . In: Norddeutscher Rundfunk . January 26, 2014. Archived from the original on January 28, 2014. Retrieved on March 23, 2014.
  21. ↑ NSA helps the protection of the constitution: XKeyscore - the document. In: zeit.de . August 26, 2015, accessed November 22, 2016 .
  22. ↑ Andre Meister: XKeyscore: Zeit Online publishes contract, with the constitution protection and BND buy spy software of the NSA - netzpolitik.org. In: netzpolitik.org. August 26, 2015, accessed November 22, 2016 .