Noted Hacker Edward Snowden Has Some Thoughts on the DNC Hack
Edward Snowden, currently residing in Russia to avoid the long arm of U.S. law enforcement, has blasted his host country for its alleged hack of Democratic National Committee emails.
In a series of tweets Monday, Snowden, a staunch supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, condemned the leak of nearly 20,000 internal DNC emails, which is now being investigated by the FBI. The release of the emails has thrown the start of the Democratic National Convention into disarray, costed DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz her job, and given new ammunition to the die-hard Sanders supporters already convinced Democratic leaders stacked the deck against their preferred candidate.
The former CIA employee and government contractor also used the occasion of the leak to call for increased transparency of government intelligence capabilities, an ironic statement given that Russia is known for the opacity of its intelligence services and Moscow’s willingness to use them to do things like help Russian athletes conceal their doping.
If Russia hacked the #DNC, they should be condemned for it. But during the #Sony hack, the FBI presented evidence. https://t.co/SG7er8VDRD
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) July 25, 2016
Snowden then said it would be easy to prove Russian involvement in the DNC hack using the formerly secret NSA data analysis program XKeyscore. Snowden’s leaks, which began in 2013, revealed the existence of the program.
Even if the attackers try to obfuscate origin, #XKEYSCORE makes following exfiltrated data easy. I did this personally against Chinese ops.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) July 25, 2016
True to form, he then criticized the NSA for an alleged lack of transparency.
Evidence that could publicly attribute responsibility for the DNC hack certainly exists at #NSA, but DNI traditionally objects to sharing.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) July 25, 2016
The aversion to sharing #NSA evidence is fear of revealing "sources and methods" of intel collection, but #XKEYSCORE is now publicly known.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) July 25, 2016
Without a credible threat that USG can and will use #NSA capabilities to publicly attribute responsibility, such hacks will become common.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) July 25, 2016
This is the only case in which mass surveillance has actually proven effective. Though I oppose in principle, it is a mistake to ignore.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) July 25, 2016
To summarize: the US Intel Community should modernize their position on disclosure. Defensive capabilities should be aggressively public.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) July 25, 2016
Finally, and perhaps in a nod to the Russian government that keeps him out of a U.S. courtroom, he argued that the United States also hacked foreign political parties.
Our government specifically authorized the hacking of political parties. Mistakes were made. https://t.co/Wh5OAZmuTN pic.twitter.com/ZRJo1CKqwQ
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) July 25, 2016
Photo credit: SLAVEN VLASIC/Getty Images
