German intelligence shared citizens with the NSA in exchange for spyware XKeyscore

The German edition of Die Zeit gained access to documents indicating that the Federal Constitutional Protection Service of Germany (BfV - Bundesamtes für Verfassungsschutz, the country's main counterintelligence agency) provided citizens' data to the US National Security Agency in exchange for the possibility of using the XKeyscore spyware.

According to journalists, the negotiations that preceded the conclusion of the agreement in April 2013 lasted 18 months. As a result, the German secret service gained access to the software, however, its level was lower than that of the countries in the Five eyes group, in addition to the United States (Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Australia).
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In exchange for access to the software, Bfv was obliged "to provide all data related to the mission of the NSA as much as possible."



XKeyscore can collect up to 20 terabytes of data per day in real time. Data for analysis includes chat logs, emails, messages in social networks, and even browsing history in the browser.

The Constitutional Protection Service also did not notify the country's authorities about the use of spyware from the NSA. Peter Schaar, who at the time of the deal between the German special services and the NSA, held the position of data protection officer, told Die Zeit that he “did not know anything about such an agreement.”

For the first time, the general public learned about the existence of XKeyscore in 2013 from materials disclosed by former US National Security Agency official Edward Snowden.

Scandals associated with the tapping of citizens, periodically arise in different countries. So recently, the head of the National Intelligence Service of South Korea admitted that his department was purchasing spyware from the hacking group Hacking Team to access messages in popular messengers (for example, Kakao Talk).

In addition, earlier in the media widely covered the topic of mobile surveillance of the NSA. In the blog, we discussed this story in detail .

We also remind you that on September 3, at 14:00, telecom security expert Kirill Puzankov will hold a free webinar on various mobile communication hazards. You can register for it at the link : ptsecurity.ru/lab/webinars/#41867