[Infowarrior] - NSA claims of Snowden leaks aiding terrorists found unwarranted

[Richard Forno]

Well, duh!   —rick


NSA claims of Snowden leaks aiding terrorists found unwarranted

By Bill Lindner    

http://www.digitaljournal.com/technology/nsa-claims-of-snowden-leaks-aiding-terrorists-found-unwarranted/article/406259

An independent investigation on the effects of whistle blower Edward Snowden's leaks of NSA documents reveals that the claims -- often referred to as overblown by some critics --that Al Qaida and ISIS benefitted from those revelations are not true.
A new independent investigation by Flashpoint Global Partners (FGP) reveals that despite the claims by the National Security Agency (NSA), documents leaked by whistle blower Edward Snowden did not damage America's National Security by alerting Al Qaida they were being spied on. There have been no real consequences and Al Qaida has not changed the way they communicate because of the leaks. Al Qaida changed the way they communicate long before the revelations by Snowden.
Despite the independent findings, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper -- who came under fire for admittedly lying to the U.S. Congress -- is now claiming that Snowden's leaks also aided in the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and assisted Russia's alleged occupation of Crimea. Contrary to Clapper's insinuations that Snowden aided Al Qaida and Washington's claims that Snowden damaged National Security there is little evidence supporting those claims as being factual.
FGP's investigation suggests that none of those things are true and that Al Qaida has been well aware of encryption and how to use it because they knew they were already being spied on. Long before Snowden began leaking the information Al Qaida and other terrorist groups were already encrypting their communications. In fact, Al Qaida was using encryption long before 9/11. Snowden's leaks only confirmed what Al Qaida knew all along -- that their communications were targeted by the NSA.
Snowden's leaks started going public June 05, 2013. FGP's analysis of the leaks challenge all the assertions made by the U.S. government, noting that there is no correlation between Snowden's leaks and the impact on the revelations about the NSA's spying. Other Islamic groups, including ISIS, have simply extended their existing encryption schemes to new devices and technologies including cell phones, chat software and texting. Regardless of the FGP's findings, corporations associated with the U.S. government are still attempting to frame Snowden as a traitor.
The investigation by FGP focused on the significance of several online communications encryption tools released by Jihadi-affiliated groups once the leaks started by Snowden. FGP used proprietary software they developed to mine the dark web for open source information posted in top Jihadi social networking platforms looking for evidence that Snowden's revelations had a measurable impact on the logistical subterfuge technologies of terrorist organizations and found very little information indicating Snowden's leaks caused Al Qaida to develop more secure digital communications and/or encryption.
According to the FGP’s analysts Juhadists didn’t care about Snowden’s revelations. They were more interested in discussing newly released encryption software that was tailored to their cause. The report from FGP goes on to list various secure communications packages Jihadists used, noting that a definitive answer to the relevance of Snowden’s leaks is only possible with access to “classified information or other credible sources that reveal the inner workings of terrorist organizations.” Results of the study were also limited due to the lack of access to those responsible for providing Jihadi encryption software.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/technology/nsa-claims-of-snowden-leaks-aiding-terrorists-found-unwarranted/article/406259#ixzz3EwxOLlNb


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Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.