FSB Major General Mikhailov: NSA is interested in the correspondence of Russian security officials
US intelligence services, including the National Security Agency (NSA), are interested correspondence in the messengers of the Russian security forces. On Wednesday, December 1, retired FSB Major General Alexander Mikhailov told the News.ru portal.
According to Mikhailov, the NSA may have access to WhatsApp correspondence. The American intelligence services constantly “scan” some users, but do not tell about it. At the same time, he noted that they have no interest in representatives of the marginalized environment and the opposition, and that Americans are much less interested in politicians than in the security forces, but they can watch their correspondence.
Mikhailov noted that the Americans can do this because of for a small amount of domestic software and instant messengers, with the exception of Telegram and VKontakte.
On November 30, it was reported that American intelligence officers, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), gained access to the confidential data of users of such platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and iMessage. They are allowed to clarify any information of interest after receiving the corresponding order.
Thanks to the document “Legal Access”, special services can find out about all the contacts of a WhatsApp client, as well as determine the circle of persons who entered it in their notebooks. In addition, in this way you can get data on calls and correspondence, and this information will be updated every 15 minutes. It is noted that a WhatsApp representative in an interview with reporters confirmed the existence of such a procedure.