Networking the Dragon

Virtual portals

Their wine is the poison of dragons,
And the cruel venom of asps. — Deuteronomy 32:33 (KJV)

Do you use social media? Do you check those sites daily? Hourly? Do you spend most of the day interacting within a virtual world?

We raise our hands on all these questions because our ministry is based on the Internet mission field, but the day is fast approaching when we’ll need to decide whether to cut the digital cord. You see, not only is the data stream we create mined for secrets by the NSA and GCHQ, to name but two intelligence organizations, it’s also used to teach artificial intelligence.

Every post you make, every photo you upload, every tag you select, every like, every smiley are used to teach artificial intelligences algorithms about humans. These code entities can predict what you will say at any given moment of the day, based on your constant stream of data. They know what you eat, where you shop, what kind of diet you’re on, if you’re in a relationship, where you go to school, even what kind of fragrance you like. Shopping sites provide data to these algorithms, allowing the silicon creatures living inside the black box to learn about human foibles and vanities. They know what photographs we find interesting, what images make us “click to learn more,” and what persuasive language influences us to buy.

We are being herded by code, and the information bubble that surrounds each of us online perpetuates our own view of the world, insulating us from reality much like the MASS implant twisted reality in the Black Mirror episode.

Many of us may have received social media “friend” requests from unknown persons who appear to share our ideas and interests. This new friend may not be real. Generally, a photograph culled from the net’s massive servers is used to represent this new “person.” Other times, an avatar or virtual representation is used, or it might be a 3-D construct purely from code that looks remarkably real. Your new friend’s appearance will appeal to your personality. If you post primarily Christian things like scripture, then it might appear to be a pastor and use a name that indicates strong faith. If you like cats, then the person may hold an adorable Siamese kitten. If you post about Duck Dynasty, then the new friend’s avatar or profile pic might have a long beard and wear camo. The originator of this virtual new “friend” might be genuine, but it could just as easily be an ad agency, an analytics company, or worse—it might be a bad actor, someone who wishes to steal your data for nefarious purposes.

No matter the source, it is highly possible that your new “friend” is a spy.

A few years ago, journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Gallagher revealed additional information from whistleblower Edward Snowden about NSA plans to implant code into millions of target computers using a system codenamed TURBINE. According to the leaked document, the NSA masqueraded as a fake Facebook server, using the social media site as a launching pad to infect a target’s computer and exfiltrate files from the hard drive. In others, it sent out spam emails laced with the malware, which can be tailored to covertly record audio from a computer’s microphone and take snapshots with its webcam. The hacking systems have also enabled the NSA to launch cyberattacks by corrupting and disrupting file downloads or denying access to websites.

This is an excerpt from our 2024 book The Gates of Hell. Over the coming weeks, we’ll publish it here at no charge. If you want to own a copy, it’s available in paperback, as a Kindle e-book, and as an audiobook at Amazon and Audible.

Human operatives originally initiated and monitored these targets, which numbered only in the hundreds at first, but beginning in 2009, the NSA switched to automated attacks using TURBINE, which permits infiltration of millions of targets. The intelligence community’s top-secret “Black Budget” for 2013, obtained by Snowden, lists TURBINE as part of a broader NSA surveillance initiative named “Owning the Net.”

Code creatures probably lurk inside your friends list and some might even be amongst your favorites. They’ll post meme posters intended to herd you in a certain direction. They’ll attempt to persuade you and intimidate you into professing beliefs antithetical to your true self. They will do in increments. Slowly. Steadily. You have chosen to connect with them, and they will use that free will choice to lure you into sin. The Internet is a dangerous place. By going online, you open your mind to a myriad of subtle whispers. Be careful little ears and eyes what you hear and see!

Every day, the news reports (often written by an algorithm) mention vulnerabilities to chips, devices, and software. Hacking is done by individuals, crime syndicates, and national actors (read that as intelligence operations). Cyberwarfare is slowly replacing on-the-ground operations, and not just through hacking. Social media campaigns can take down a government as efficiently as a breech in firewall security can. Cyber-mercenaries allow for deniability in such cases, but the increase in semi-sentient software raises the possibility that it’s an algorithm and not a human behind the attack.

Recently, the Department of Defense issued a call for submissions regarding a redesign of the DoD cloud, Internet-based data storage. In order to allow for cross-platform and cross-service branch efficiency, the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) program envisions a single-source cloud—one company to store everything. On the surface, this may sound like a good idea, for it would enable all branches of the military to communicate easily, quickly, and share information. However, it would also allow a sentient intelligence to gain access to all our information with a single attack. Open the door to the DoD cloud (use the Force, JEDI knight!), insert a little code into the cloud’s database; and soon, it, too, will be sentient. SkyNet is born.

No, we’re not being alarmist. We merely follow the logic to its ultimate end. The militaries of the world are moving towards sentient software, regardless of the known consequences. Elon Musk, who’s quoted at the beginning of our previous chapter, admits that we are “summoning the demon,” yet, researchers and military strategists refuse to listen—and even Musk himself forges ahead.

And though our military does not (yet) store everything in a single “cloud,” most of the connected world continues to create billowy clouds of yummy data for the governments and their bots to consume.

Here are just a few bits of code currently being used by the NSA, and GCHQ (England’s “listening station”) to access your keystrokes, photos, and likes:^[1]

· NOSEY SMURF allows listeners to take over a computer’s microphone and record conversations taking place nearby the device.

· GUMFISH can covertly take over a computer’s webcam and snap photographs.

· FOGGYBOTTOM records logs of Internet browsing histories and collects login details and passwords used to access websites and email accounts.

· GROK is used to log keystrokes entered on a device.

· SALVAGERABBIT exfiltrates data from removable flash drives that connect to an infected computer.

· The NSA also injects malware into network routers: HAMMERCHANT and HAMMERSTEIN, help the agency to intercept and perform “exploitation attacks” against data that is sent through a Virtual Private Network, a tool that uses encrypted “tunnels” to enhance the security and privacy of an Internet session.

Assumption of privacy is no longer valid. Your cell phone calls, Skype conversations, and keystrokes are all vulnerable to spying eyes and ears—most of them non-human. Most of these implants have been done through spam emails and infected links, but the NSA realizes that you and I have learned not to click on these email links; therefore, the NSA employs a technique called QUANTUMHAND that poses as a face Facebook server. When a target attempts to log in to the social media site, the NSA transmits malicious data packets that trick the target’s computer into thinking they are being sent from the real Facebook. By concealing its malware within what looks like an ordinary Facebook page, the NSA is able to hack into the targeted computer and covertly siphon out data from its hard drive. QUANTUMHAND went live in 2010. Since then, Facebook claims to have implemented code that protects against such malware attacks, but how can one know in a virtual playground like the web which players are real and which are fake?

Can we trust the digital world at all?

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^[1] Ian Burrell, “Nosey Smurf, Gumfish and Foggybottom: The snooping tools that may have got GCHQ in hot water.” The Independent, May 13, 2014. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/nosey-smurf-gumfish-and-foggybottom-the-snooping-tools-that-may-have-got-gchq-in-hot-water-9362642.html, accessed 2/28/24.