Edward Snowdens NSA Leaks Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Edward Snowdens NSA Leaks - Assignment Example The revelation was a show of gross violation of civil liberties. When Snowden resigned from CIA, he started working as a contractor at the NSA facility in the United States Military base in Japan. Snowden had excellent computer skills and was given top secret clearance. At the time, there were a lot of opportunities for contractors as the United States security outsourced intelligence tasks to outside private companies. Snowden found out the all-consuming NSA surveillance activities. He was also keen to notice that the mechanisms that were built into the United States system to keep NSA in check were not working. While working for one of the 13 hubs that spied on Chinese interests, he made anonymous contacts with journalists and leaked top-secret information to them. When he took a new job with the Booz Allen Hamilton, he got access to the list of machines that had been hacked by NSA from across the globe. He was among those who were allowed to look at the system. Other people with t op secret clearance did not have the permission to view all the classified files. Snowden was able to open files without leaving any electronic trace. He was a ghost user. As an administrator, he managed to persuade others to give him their login details. Snowden used his authority as a sysadmin to download documents to thumb drives. He was able to reach the NSA servers remotely from Hawaii. After completion of four weeks in his new job, he claimed to be unwell and requested for unpaid leave from his bosses at Booz. Then, he disappeared. There are a number of measures that should have been ensured to prevent Snowden’s leaks. Firstly, the top secret clearance should have been given to people with clear motives who have passed integrity tests. Secondly, there should have been a strong security policy barring any staff from disclosing his/her login details to prevent unauthorized access to files.