The NSA Has Been Monitoring Bitcoin Users Since 2013

If you are reading this, it is quite likely that you will be monitored by the NSA. Because the US IT secret service is since the beginning of 2013 monitoring Bitcoin users. This shows an analysis of the leaks by Edward Snowden.

To see if you have been monitored type in your Command Prompt the following:
tracert nsa.gov
and then press enter.

As you can see I have been monitored.

A research by the Magazine Intercept has found in the documents that Edward Snowden leaked in mid-2013, evidence that the NSA has been involved in this time with Bitcoin.

According to an internal document issued by the NSA in March 2013, the agency is trying to track down senders and receivers of bitcoins. Not only does it use the BTC blockchain analysis, but also uses its own well-developed tools to collect and evaluate raw, global Internet traffic. "The persecution probably also includes that intimate details of users' computers are collected. The NSA collects password information, Internet activity, and a unique number to identify the device, the MAC address. "There is also evidence that the analysts also include the Internet addresses, network ports, and timestamps of the" BITCOIN targets ".

The data about the users are stored in a .csv file and linked with information from other programs, such as XKeyScore. A document indicates that the data also contains information about invoices and the IP address, which allows the NSA to easily connect the user's identity to a Bitcoin address.

In order to spy on Bitcoin users, the NSA uses its possibilities to extract the Internet traffic directly from the cables as part of the OAKSTAR program. With a subprogram called MONKEYROCKET, probably a kind of browser-based VPN or other anonymization software, which had had a significant amount of users, especially in China and Iran, Bitcoin-specific data was skimmed off. The goal was to identify early when terrorist organizations like Al-Quaida use cryptocurrencies.

It's not like it's surprising. Who expected the NSA to not watch Bitcoin? It is frightening, however, that the secret service is already trying since 2013 to identify Bitcoin users and probably also has the means to succeed. It is likely that the methods have since been significantly tightened and improved. Anti-money laundering legislation, generally mandated by lawmakers, ensures that users' identities are more widely stored in databases that the NSA has potential access to.

When in doubt, one should assume that one stands not only with one leg in a record of the NSA. Commenting on Intecept, Cornell University researcher Emin Gun Sirer said that "it really should lower its privacy expectations. If the NSA is among the attackers, any pseudonymity will disappear. "Sirer expects privacy-focused users to switch to other, more anonymous cryptocurrencies. The cryptographer Matthew Green agrees with him. The NSA's technologies made any privacy enhancements to currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Ripple "absolutely worthless" by being in the crosshairs of the agency.

Unfortunately, cryptocurrencies, which promise more privacy, are currently a little under attack by the regulators. For example, the Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck recently announced that it will be phasing out Monero, Dash and Zcash, as these currencies are less compatible with anti-money laundering regulations. How problematic this is, shows the publication of the Intercept, which demonstrates that conventional cryptocurrencies are not sufficiently compatible with data protection. To hope that there is a gap between "too little private" and "too private" seems to be a romantic missbelief. A freedom that is not exploited by the bad guys will not be available to the good guys without restriction. If criminals with cryptocurrencies are unable to launder money, it is very likely that the NSA will be able to monitor the financial activity of all through them.

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Image Sources:

• Post header created by myself
• theintercept.com

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