[Discord]
Written by DeveloperNes
Basics
Edward Snowden is an American Leaker who publicly leaked thousands of classified documents, more specifically lots of information regarding the NSA, he was an NSA Contractor, more specifically a Sharepoint Administrator (Basically an IT guy). To understand the effect the leaks had, you need to understand why documents are classified, a majority of documents/intelligence classified and hidden from external threat actors and American people is to hide sources and methods, not quite so much the content actually contained in the document. Documents are classified to protect human sources, security vulnerabilities, and methods used to gain intelligence. The most moral reason documents are classified out of these is to protect human sources developed by case officers, however ensuring major security vulnerabilities aren't made public is also a very strong reason, as well as the basic ability to protect the American people, there is no way to be transparent about information to Americans without also putting it straight in the hands of threat actors.
Harmful Leaks
- The Milkwhite document details GCHQ’s MES (MILKWHITE Enrichment Service), specifying analytic capabilities, storage infrastructure for bulk data, and the capacity to analyze identifiers across various data channels. Specific partners (e.g., SOCA, HMRC) and agencies benefiting from these services are listed. Knowledge of these capabilities would allow a threat actor to avoid or manipulate communication channels under surveillance, thereby reducing the effectiveness of UK intelligence operations.
- The Milkwhite document also mentions funding constraints and dependency on external funding for maintaining MES capabilities. It describes potential limitations in GCHQ's ability to sustain and scale the MES infrastructure. Adversaries could exploit these known funding vulnerabilities to anticipate weakened surveillance capacity or target periods of potential downtime for critical infrastructure.
- The Le Monde document highlights steps NSA took in attempting to attribute the 2012 cyberattacks on the French Presidential network. Disclosing this process could inform adversaries about how the NSA attributes attacks, which allows threat actors to hide themselves so they are not brought to justice.
- The NSA SIGINT-HUMINT document specifically names an NSA Intelligence Analyst who worked overseas and where he worked.
- The Microsoft cloud exploitation document contains a plethora of information regarding HTTP traffic around Microsoft's network and how specific network protocols work. This is one of the more dangerous documents for security vulnerabilites.
Involvement With Russians
It's often been rumored that Edward Snowden is or has been involved with the Russians, in an investigative book written by Edward Jay Epstein, "How America Lost Its Secrets" he makes the argument that the amount of stolen data (Estimated to be ~9,000 documents) is nearly impossible to just download and leak because you felt like it one day, Epstein asserts that there is no evidence to suggest Snowden is or ever has worked with Russian Intelligence, but it is highly probable the leaking was premeditated.
Edward Snowden's Lies
Edward Snowden been confirmed as lying on several occasions.
- Edward Snowden claims that he was discharged from the Army Reserve because he broke both his legs during SFAS, and was kicked out. There is no proof that Private Snowden was injured. There is considerable doubt that he was. Private Snowden served for 19 weeks in the Army going through 10–week basic training and not meeting airborne qualification (getting his jump wings). He enlisted in the Army Reserves on 7 May 2004 and was Administratively Discharged on 9 September 2004. He was not Medically Discharged, which would have been necessary if he were injured so that he could receive medical treatment from the Veterans’ Administration. Further, his next door neighbor never saw him on crutches after he returned from the Army. On top of the fact that even if he did break his legs during SFAS, they still allow you to recover then rejoin in a different class where you left off.
- Edward Snowden claimed that the NSA and other agencies were actively spying on nearly all American citizens without restraint. The programs he exposed, such as PRISM, had legal frameworks (though controversial) meant to target foreign intelligence, with some incidental data collection on U.S. citizens. The actual purpose of the program from the documents he himself leaked suggested the data collected was more limited than Snowden implied, not to mention the data that was being collected on Americans was not to target law-abiding Americans, their data was simply being collected in order to discern movements of threat actors. The data also did not require a warrant to collect, an example would be the over-exaggeration that the NSA was reading everybody's mail, when in reality they were using the mail cover system, which is completely legal and does not access actual mail content. According to USPS Procedures- Mail Cover Requests, "“Mail Cover” is the process by which a nonconsensual record is made of any data appearing on the outside cover of any sealed or unsealed class of mail matter, or by which a record is made of the contents of any unsealed class of mail matter as allowed by law. The information provided by a mail cover may only be used to: (i) protect national security (ii) locate a fugitive; (iii) obtain evidence of commission or attempted commission of a crime; and/or (iv) assist in the identification of property, proceeds or assets forfeitable under law."
- Edward Snowden often portrays himself as a skilled malware developer, however according to his colleagues, reports the NSA made to congress, and a press release by Booz Allen Hamilton (His employer), we know that he was actually a Sharepoint Adminstrator, now this is not dumb labor, it's still a somewhat skilled job, however he was not the macho hackerman he made himself out to be.