It looks as though the FBI is quietly canning its long-standing Carnivore methodology of scanning internet users' sessions, and, where it is difficult to isolate a users' actual IP session, simply replicating and recording the entire IP data pipe.
According to the ZDNet newswire, this approach effectively monitors the online activities of thousands of internet users at a time into massive databases, which can then be queried for names, e-mail addresses or keywords.
The Carnivore system - aka DCS-1000 - is a Windows-driven customisable packet sniffing platform that was first deployed in the field by the FBI back in 1997 and was very successful. The system was reportedly augmented by another system, an enhanced version of NarusInsight, in 2005, Infosecurity notes.
`NarusInsight-plus’, it seems, is also getting pensioned off in favour of what some experts call the `vacuum cleaner' approach.
In fact, says ZDNet, the vacuum cleaner system is deployed "when police have obtained a court order and an ISP cannot isolate the particular person or IP address because of technical constraints."
That kind of full-pipe surveillance, notes the newswire, can record all internet traffic, including web browsing and/or all email messages flowing through the network.
Read more:
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/17978/fbi-sucks-in-complete-internet-pipes-in-latest-surveillance-evolution/
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