Snowden leaks revealed that the NSA has installed spying software in 100,000 machines all over the globe. Most of the software was installed when the agency got access to computer networks. Moreover, it is claimed that the National Security Agency had a secret technology to enter even computers not connected to the Internet.
Papers leaked by Edward Snowden claim that the technology in question had been in use within the last five years. It relied on a covert channel of radio waves transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards secretly inserted in the machines. Apparently, this fixed the biggest problem the US intelligence agencies faced before: getting into machines that users have tried to make impervious to spying or cyber attack.
The victims of the program, code-named Quantum, have included Chinese military – the same one that Washington has in turn accused of conducting digital attacks on American military. Besides, Quantum could also be found in Russian military networks and systems used by Mexican police and drug cartels, EU trade institutions and allies like Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan.