Computers targeted by US spy agency

Yesterday’s New York Times cited NSA documents, computer experts and US officials in its report about the use of secret technology using radio waves to gain access to computers that other countries have tried to protect from spying or cyber-attacks.

And the software network could also create a digital highway for cyber-attacks, the paper said.

The Times said the technology, used by the agency for several years, relies on radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted covertly into the computers.

The NSA calls the effort an “active defence” and has used the technology to monitor units of the Chinese Army, the Russian military, drug cartels, trade institutions inside the European Union, and sometimes US partners against terrorism such as Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan.