A top-secret National Security Agency team uses spyware and hacking to gather intelligence on targets , according to a new report based on internal agency documents . According to Der Spiegel , a German magazine that published some of the documents , the unit 's interception techniques are worthy of James Bond : intercepting a computer being shipped to a target and installing spyware before it is delivered ; supplying an altered monitor cable that transmits everything on a computer 's screen to the NSA ; or planting a USB plug with a secret radio transmitter . The unit , called Tailored Access Operations , also uses hacking in addition to spy craft . The most basic method involves phishing , sending an e-mail that lures a target into clicking on it and unknowingly downloading NSA spyware . More sophisticated techniques include identifying exploitable computer vulnerabilities by eavesdropping on a target 's error messages ; tracking a target 's cookies to shadow their Internet use ; and even surreptitiously diverting a target 's web surfing to phony replica web pages of commonly used sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook . Agents could use such fake sites both to see what a target is typing and to try to insert spyware on the target 's computer , according to cybersecurity expert Michael Sutton at ZScaler , a California-based information technology security company . `` Now they have my username and password , they can get into my account and help them in other attacks , '' said Sutton . `` But in this particular scenario , what they really want to do is infect my machine '' by transferring malware to it . `` From an eavesdropping perspective , this is a gold mine , '' he said . `` If I can 'own ' your computer , if I can gain access to it and gain a foothold into it , now I have access to all of your secrets . '' An NSA spokeswoman declined to discuss specific reports about the unit but said in a statement , `` Tailored Access Operations ( TAO ) is a unique national asset that is on the front lines of enabling NSA to defend the nation and its allies . '' She added that `` its work is centered on computer network exploitation in support of foreign intelligence collection . '' The documents in Der Spiegel named targets that were penetrated successfully , including Mexico 's security service and an underwater communications cable network . In 2010 , TAO counted 279 active operations worldwide . `` This is NSA 's hacking organization , '' said Matthew Aid , who wrote a book about the NSA and said he has spoken to members or former members of the unit . `` It 's 1,600 men and women , military and civilians , average age mid-20s , maybe early 30s , so it 's a very young , very tech-savvy organization . '' The hackers focus on foreign militaries , governments and corporations , he said , and they are protected by multiple levels of secrecy . `` Cypher-locked doors . Retinal scanners . You have to have a special need-to-know clearance for access to the TAO spaces at NSA . And the people who work there ca n't talk to any other NSA employees about what they do and how they do it . '' This report follows a string of revelations leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about privacy and spying , from the tracking of millions of overseas cell phones , to the monitoring of foreign leaders ' phones , to the global bulk scanning of e-mails . President Barack Obama commissioned a panel to review the NSA 's tactics , and he is expected to address their findings in January . According to the documents posted online by Der Spiegel , TAO programmers develop spyware to infiltrate everything from smartphones and computers to routers , servers , hard drives and firewalls to access global communications traffic . But there is no indication that the companies whose products were targeted , such as Samsung , Dell , and Cisco , cooperated with the NSA 's spyware or were even aware of it . `` No commercially available security system can detect a bug implanted by TAO , '' said Aid . `` That 's its reputation . ''
A unit called Tailored Access Operations combines spying and hacking to identify its targets . Techniques include installing cameras , setting up fake websites to gather intelligence . TAO works ` ` in support of foreign intelligence collection , '' an agency spokeswoman said . German magazine reported on the group based on internal agency documents .