MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) — During his interview with Wired, Edward Snowden explained that the NSA has a secret program called Monstermind capable of autonomously detecting and responding to foreign cyberattacks.
Snowden explained that in order for the program to operate, the NSA would have to monitor all inbound private communications from abroad. “The argument is that the only way we can identify these malicious traffic flows and respond to them is if we're analyzing all traffic flows,” Snowden told Wired. “And if we're analyzing all traffic flows, that means we have to be intercepting all traffic flows.”
Aside from the obvious privacy concerns, the program is a significant risk for the American international diplomacy as attacks launched by Monstermind are usually routed through computers located in foreign countries.
“These attacks can be spoofed,” Snowden told Wired. “You could have someone sitting in China, for example, making it appear that one of these attacks is originating in Russia. And then we end up shooting back at a Russian hospital. What happens next?”
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden fled the United States in 2013 having leaked information about a global electronic surveillance programs conducted by the US government. His revelations have dealt a serious blow to the US diplomatic relations with its allies.
After the US charged him with espionage and revoked his passport, Snowden received temporary asylum in Russia.
