#1 Trusted Cybersecurity News Platform
Followed by 5.20+ million
The Hacker News Logo
Subscribe – Get Latest News

Search results for NSA cyber operations | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

The NSA Hack — What, When, Where, How, Who & Why?

The NSA Hack — What, When, Where, How, Who & Why?

Aug 17, 2016
You might have heard about the recent ongoing drama of NSA hack that has sparked a larger debate on the Internet concerning abilities of US intelligence agencies as well as their own security. Saturday morning the news broke that a mysterious group of hackers calling themselves "The Shadow Brokers" claimed it hacked an NSA-linked group and released some NSA hacking tools with a promise to sell more private "cyber weapons" to the highest bidder. The group dumped a bunch of private hacking tools from " Equation Group " – an elite cyber attack unit linked to the NSA – on GitHub and Tumblr. The Shadow Brokers hacking group has published the leaked data in two parts; one includes many hacking tools designed to inject malware into various servers and another encrypted file containing the "best files" that they made available for sale for 1 Million Bitcoins. However, GitHub deleted the files from its page, not due to any government pressur...
Leaked NSA Dump Also Contains Tools Agency Used to Track Other Hackers

Leaked NSA Dump Also Contains Tools Agency Used to Track Other Hackers

Mar 07, 2018
A years ago when the mysterious hacking group ' The Shadow Brokers ' dumped a massive trove of sensitive data stolen from the US intelligence agency NSA, everyone started looking for secret hacking tools and zero-day exploits . A group of Hungarian security researchers from CrySyS Lab and Ukatemi has now revealed that the NSA dump doesn't just contain zero-day exploits used to take control of targeted systems , but also include a collection of scripts and scanning tools the agency uses to track operations of hackers from other countries. According to a report published today by the Intercept, NSA's specialized team known as Territorial Dispute (TeDi) developed some scripts and scanning tools that help the agency to detect other nation-state hackers on the targeted machines it infects. NSA hackers used these tools to scan targeted systems for 'indicators of compromise' (IoC) in order to protect its own operations from getting exposed, as well as to fin...
Navy's Cyberwar Expert - New Director of NSA, replacing Gen. Keith Alexander

Navy's Cyberwar Expert - New Director of NSA, replacing Gen. Keith Alexander

Feb 01, 2014
It is very clear that when we talk about Intelligence and Surveillance, the first name comes to our mind is the U.S National Security Agency (NSA) and, the second is Gen. Keith Alexander , the Director of NSA..GEEK behind the massive surveillance Programs. Many documents revealed by the former NSA's contractor Edward Snowden exposed the extend level of worldwide spying scandals projected by U.S Government in the supervision of Gen. Keith Alexander. The Obama Administration has confirmed that they are replacing Gen. Keith Alexander and giving the command of NSA in the hand of a military officer, rather than a civilian who is experienced in Cryptography and Electronic Eavesdropping . Michael S. Rogers , presently the U.S Navy's Cyber Security Chief, will be the new Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and head of the US military cyber command. He has been involved in cyberdefense and offense policy issues as head of the Fleet Cyber Command. Neither Ro...
cyber security

2025 Cloud Security Risk Report

websiteSentinelOneCloud Security / Artificial Intelligence
Learn 5 key risks to cloud security such as cloud credential theft, lateral movements, AI services, and more.
cyber security

Most AI Risk Isn't in Models, It's in Your SaaS Stack

websiteRecoAI Security / (SaaS Security
Your models aren't the problem. The sprawl of your SaaS apps, AI and agents are. Here's where to start.
NSA infected more than 50,000 computer networks with Malware

NSA infected more than 50,000 computer networks with Malware

Nov 23, 2013
The NSA has the ability to trace " anyone, anywhere, anytime ". In September we reported that how NSA and GCHQ planted malware via LinkedIn and Slashdot traffic to hack largest telecom company Belgacom's Engineers. Yesterday, a  Dutch newspaper has   published a new secret NSA document provided by former intelligence employee  Edward Snowden . According to the newly exposed slide, NSA has infected more than 50,000 computer networks worldwide with software designed to steal sensitive information i.e. Malware . The slide from the NSA's 2012 management presentation, shows a world map with more than 50,000 targeted locations, uses a procedure called ' Computer Network Exploitation ' (CNE) that can secretly install malware in computer systems. The malware can be controlled remotely and be turned on and off at will. From the NSA website we found that, CNE includes enabling actions and intelligence collection via computer networks that exploit data gathere...
Leaked NSA Hacking Tools Were 'Mistakenly' Left By An Agent On A Remote Server

Leaked NSA Hacking Tools Were 'Mistakenly' Left By An Agent On A Remote Server

Sep 23, 2016
If you are a hacker, you might have enjoyed the NSA's private zero-day exploits , malware and hacking tools that were leaked last month. But the question is: How these hacking tools ended up into the hands of hackers? It has been found that the NSA itself was not directly hacked, but a former NSA employee carelessly left those hacking tools on a remote server three years ago after an operation and a group of Russian hackers found them, sources close to the investigation told Reuters . The leaked hacking tools, which enable hackers to exploit vulnerabilities in systems from big vendors like Cisco Systems, Juniper, and Fortinet, were dumped publicly online by the group calling itself " The Shadow Brokers ." NSA officials have also admitted to the FBI that their careless employee acknowledged the error shortly afterward, and hence the agency was aware of its operative's mistake from last three years. But instead of warning the affected companies that their c...
U.S. Agencies Warn of Rising Iranian Cyber Attacks on Defense, OT Networks, and Critical Infrastructure

U.S. Agencies Warn of Rising Iranian Cyber Attacks on Defense, OT Networks, and Critical Infrastructure

Jun 30, 2025 Cyber Attack / Critical Infrastructure
U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies have issued a joint advisory warning of potential cyber attacks from Iranian state-sponsored or affiliated threat actors.  "Over the past several months, there has been increasing activity from hacktivists and Iranian government-affiliated actors, which is expected to escalate due to recent events," the agencies said . "These cyber actors often exploit targets of opportunity based on the use of unpatched or outdated software with known Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures or the use of default or common passwords on internet-connected accounts and devices." There is currently no evidence of a coordinated campaign of malicious cyber activity in the U.S. that can be attributed to Iran, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3), and the National Security Agency (NSA) noted. Emphasizing the need for "incr...
US and Global Allies Accuse China of Massive Microsoft Exchange Attack

US and Global Allies Accuse China of Massive Microsoft Exchange Attack

Jul 20, 2021
The U.S. government and its key allies, including the European Union, the U.K., and NATO, formally attributed the massive cyberattack against Microsoft Exchange email servers to state-sponsored hacking crews working affiliated with the People's Republic of China's Ministry of State Security (MSS). In a  statement  issued by the White House on Monday, the administration said, "with a high degree of confidence that malicious cyber actors affiliated with PRC's MSS conducted cyber-espionage operations utilizing the zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server disclosed in early March 2021. The U.K. government  accused  Beijing of a "pervasive pattern of hacking" and "systemic cyber sabotage." The  sweeping espionage campaign  exploited four previously undiscovered vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange software and is believed to have hit at least 30,000 organizations in the U.S. and hundreds of thousands more worldwide. Microsoft identified...
NSA Hacked Servers of Chinese telecom Huawei, Stole Source Codes

NSA Hacked Servers of Chinese telecom Huawei, Stole Source Codes

Mar 23, 2014
The US Government was publicly accusing Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei of espionage from the past few years. Ironically, it has now been revealed that the  National Security Agency conducted a major offensive cyber operations against the  Chinese government and networking company Huawei,  in early 2009. According to reports based on classified documents leaked by Edward Snowden   and viewed by The Times and Der Spiegel , NSA has infiltrated servers in the headquarters of Chinese telecommunications and hacked into the email servers of Huawei five years ago. Code-named as " Operation Shotgiant " was conducted with the involvement of the CIA, White House intelligence coordinator and the FBI; aimed to find a link between  Huawei  and China's People's Liberation Army. NSA accessed the emails of many Huawei employees' for this purpose. NSA STOLE SOURCE CODES NSA also aimed to conduct surveillance through computer ...
China Accuses U.S. of Decade-Long Cyber Espionage Campaign Against Huawei Servers

China Accuses U.S. of Decade-Long Cyber Espionage Campaign Against Huawei Servers

Sep 21, 2023 Cyber Espionage / Spyware
China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) has accused the U.S. of breaking into Huawei's servers, stealing critical data, and implanting backdoors since 2009, amid mounting geopolitical tensions between the two countries. In a  message  posted on WeChat, the government authority said U.S. intelligence agencies have "done everything possible" to conduct surveillance, secret theft, and intrusions on many countries around the world, including China, using a "powerful cyber attack arsenal." Specifics about the alleged hacks were not shared. It explicitly singled out the U.S. National Security Agency's (NSA) Computer Network Operations (formerly the Office of Tailored Access Operations or TAO) as having "repeatedly carried out systematic and platform-based attacks" against the country to plunder its "important data resources." The post went on to claim that the cyber-warfare intelligence-gathering unit hacked Huawei's servers in 200...
China Accuses NSA's TAO Unit of Hacking its Military Research University

China Accuses NSA's TAO Unit of Hacking its Military Research University

Sep 12, 2022
China has accused the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) of conducting a string of cyberattacks aimed at aeronautical and military research-oriented Northwestern Polytechnical University in the city of Xi'an in June 2022. The National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre (NCVERC) disclosed its findings last week, and accused the Office of Tailored Access Operations ( TAO ), a cyber-warfare intelligence-gathering unit of the National Security Agency (NSA), of orchestrating thousands of attacks against the entities located within the country. "The U.S. NSA's TAO has carried out tens of thousands of malicious cyber attacks on China's domestic network targets, controlled tens of thousands of network devices (network servers, Internet terminals, network switches, telephone exchanges, routers, firewalls, etc.), and stole more than 140GB of high-value data," the NCVERC  said . According to the U.S. Department of Justice ( DoJ ), Northwestern Polytechnical Unive...
Project TURBINE: NSA spreads sophisticated Malware Worldwide

Project TURBINE: NSA spreads sophisticated Malware Worldwide

Mar 13, 2014
Besides collecting metadata and inserting backdoor to the devices and softwares, the US National Security Agency (NSA) has an eye on each post, picture, message you have ever sent on Facebook. I know you won't be feeling free considering your privacy, but, this is what the NSA is doing to you. The new revelation from the Glenn Greenwald 's desk remove the mask from one more secret surveillance operation carried out by the US intelligence agency NSA, the extensive program dubbed as ' TURBINE ', according to the classified files provided previously by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden . Yes, the NSA, who has been working with its dedicated hacking unit, Tailored Access Operations (TAO) from the past several years on enlarging its caliber to infect devices with spyware and creating its own command-and-control servers to manage millions of infected systems at a time. The secret documents presented by The Intercept  website shows that the NSA with its British counterpa...
NSA & CIA Analysts Watching Porn, A Lot of Porn, More Than You Could Ever

NSA & CIA Analysts Watching Porn, A Lot of Porn, More Than You Could Ever

Apr 06, 2015
U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) is infamous for conducting Global Mass Surveillance to snoop secretly on users' online communications, phone calls, private instant messages, and personal emails, but there is something shocking about it. The Security Agency also asked its employees to watch Porn -- Yes! Porn and a lot of Porn. The Analysts and Terrorism experts employed by U.S. Intelligence Agencies including the NSA and the CIA ( Central Intelligence Agency ) are tasked to watch graphic videos all day long. According to the recent report by Daily Beast , the Graphic video contents containing ISIS prisoner beheading, attacks on U.S. military forces, and sometimes sexual abuse of children are gathered from the computers and smartphones of captured or killed terrorists, and from websites frequented visited by jihadists. WHY NSA IS WATCHING PORN? Islamic State (Isis) and Al-Qaeda terrorists are using Reddit, eBay and pornography to send coded messages to thei...
WannaCry Ransomware: Everything You Need To Know Immediately

WannaCry Ransomware: Everything You Need To Know Immediately

May 15, 2017
By now I am sure you have already heard something about the WannaCry ransomware , and are wondering what's going on, who is doing this, and whether your computer is secure from this insanely fast-spreading threat that has already hacked nearly 200,000 Windows PCs over the weekend. The only positive thing about this attack is that — you are here — as after reading this easy-to-understandable awareness article, you would be so cautious that you can save yourself from WannaCry, as well as other similar cyber attacks in the future. Also Read — Google Researcher Finds Link Between WannaCry Attacks and North Korea . Since this widely spread ransomware attack is neither the first nor the last one to hit users worldwide, prevention is always the key to protect against such malware threats. What is WannaCry? How to Protect your Computer from WannaCry Ransomware? Follow These Simple Steps. TWEET THIS In this article, we have provided some of the most important primary secu...
Expert Insights Articles Videos
Cybersecurity Resources