How NSA hacked Google, Yahoo's data centres

Today, it is an open secret that the NSA looks into the customer data with the help of their sophisticated tracking systems. The NSA reportedly took the backdoor access to the data centers of Google and Yahoo in order to spy on the customers. The National Security Agency was able to spy on the communications of Google and Yahoo users without breaking into the companies' data centres sounded like something from a Robert Ludlum spy thriller. 

People knowledgeable about Google and Yahoo's infrastructure say they believe that government spies bypassed the big internet companies and hit them at a weak spot -- the fiber-optic cables that connect data centres around the world that are owned by companies like Verizon Communications, BT Group, Vodafone Group and Level 3 Communications. In particular, fingers have been pointed at Level 3, the world's largest so-called internet backbone provider, whose cables are used by Google and Yahoo. 

The internet companies' data centres are locked down with full-time security and state-of-the-art surveillance, including heat sensors and iris scanners. But between the data centres -- on Level 3's fiber-optic cables that connected those massive computer farms -- information was unencrypted and an easier target for government intercept efforts, according to three people with knowledge of Google and Yahoo's systems, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

It is impossible to say for certain how the NSA managed to get Google and Yahoo's data without their knowledge. But both companies, in response to concerns over those vulnerabilities, recently said they had begun encrypting data that runs on the cables between their data centres. Microsoft is considering a similar move. 

News Courtesy: The Times of India

Image Credit: geekcurrent.com