NSA says “indiscriminate” Facebook hacking allegations “are simply false”

Days after new documents provided by Edward Snowden showed that the National Security Agency was deploying malware allowing it to pose as Facebook and other sites in order to intercept data, the NSA is now denying this characterization and insisting that what it does is legal.

With Turbine, no humans are required to exploit phones, PCs, routers, VPNs. “NSA uses its technical capabilities only to support lawful and appropriate foreign intelligence operations, all of which must be carried out in strict accordance with its authorities,” says the document, which was published on the NSA’s Twitter account. (Yes, the NSA has a Twitter account.)

"Technical capability must be understood within the legal, policy, and operational context within which the capability must be employed. NSA's authorities require that its foreign intelligence operations support valid national security requirements, protect the legitimate privacy interests of all persons, and be as tailored as feasible. NSA does not use its technical capabilities to impersonate US company websites. Nor does NSA target any user of global Internet services without appropriate legal authority. Reports of indiscriminate computer exploitation operations are simply false.”