NSA has been hacking Microsoft Error Reporting Service to capture data sent from users’ computer. As though we haven’t already had enough, we have witnessed yet another revelation via the latest issue of German magazine Der Spiegel. The report also hammers Microsoft’s reputation of providing sophisticated environment for user experience.
In the new revelation a lot of new information about how NSA agents were tracking our data has come alive. A special group of specialists named Tailored Access Operations (TAO) unit was assigned the task to retrieve the irretrievable. This group has reportedly infiltrated major IT firms like Cisco and Huawei as well. The group managed to score “some of the most significant intelligence our country has ever seen,” the magazine added.
As a joke, the NSA agents went as far as saying that they have even replaced the error message with something that reads like this: “This information may be intercepted by a foreign sigint (signals intelligence) system to gather detailed information and better exploit your machine”.
Microsoft has defended this allegation, and clarified that they only use limited information in order to make user experience better. In a statement to CNBC, the Seattle-based giant, said,
“Microsoft does not provide any Government with direct or unfettered access to our customers’ data. We would have significant concerns if the allegations about Government actions are true.”
Microsoft Error Reporting Service is found in Windows operating system that records critical information like software crashes. This report is then used by Microsoft engineers to troubleshoot the problem, and make their software bug free.
