The revelation is based on a classified intelligence budget provided
to the paper by fugitive leaker Edward Snowden, as well as on interviews
with former US officials.
The Post also reported that, under a $US652 million ($735.1 million)
project code-named "GENIE", US specialists hack foreign computer
networks to secretly put them under American control.
This involves placing "covert implants" in computers, routers and
firewalls, it said, adding that by year's end "GENIE" is projected to
control at least 85,000 "malware" plug-ins in machines around the globe.
That compares to just over 21,200 in 2008, the Post reported, citing the intelligence budget.
"The documents provided by Snowden and interviews with US officials
describe a campaign of computer intrusions that is far broader and more
aggressive than previously understood," the daily said.
Of the 231 "offensive operations" conducted in 2011, nearly 75 per cent
were against top-priority targets that the Post, citing former
officials, said included "adversaries such as Iran, Russia, China and
North Korea and activities such as nuclear non-proliferation."
The paper said US intelligence services make "routine use" of
government-constructed malware around the globe that "differs little in
function from the 'advanced persistent threats' that US officials
attribute to China."
However, while an unnamed National Security Agency spokesman
confirmed to the Post that the Defense Department does engage in
computer network exploitation, the paper also quoted him as saying that,
unlike China, "the department does not engage in economic espionage in
any domain, including cyber."
Snowden, a former US National Security Agency contractor, was granted temporary asylum in Russia on August 1.
He is wanted by Washington on espionage charges linked to media disclosures about US surveillance programs.
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