spiegel | When it comes to modern firewalls for corporate computer networks, the
world's second largest network equipment manufacturer doesn't skimp on
praising its own work. According to Juniper Networks' online PR copy,
the company's products are "ideal" for protecting large companies and
computing centers from unwanted access from outside. They claim the
performance of the company's special computers is "unmatched" and their
firewalls are the "best-in-class." Despite these assurances, though,
there is one attacker none of these products can fend off -- the United
States' National Security Agency.
Specialists at the intelligence organization succeeded years ago in
penetrating the company's digital firewalls. A document viewed by
SPIEGEL resembling a product catalog reveals that an NSA division called
ANT has burrowed its way into nearly all the security architecture made
by the major players in the industry -- including American global
market leader Cisco and its Chinese competitor Huawei, but also
producers of mass-market goods, such as US computer-maker Dell.
A 50-Page Catalog
These NSA agents, who specialize in secret back doors, are able to
keep an eye on all levels of our digital lives -- from computing centers
to individual computers, and from laptops to mobile phones. For nearly
every lock, ANT seems to have a key in its toolbox. And no matter what
walls companies erect, the NSA's specialists seem already to have gotten
past them.
This, at least, is the impression gained from flipping through the
50-page document. The list reads like a mail-order catalog, one from
which other NSA employees can order technologies from the ANT division
for tapping their targets' data. The catalog even lists the prices for
these electronic break-in tools, with costs ranging from free to
$250,000.
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