Bloomberg reporting NSA knew about the heartbleed bug over 2 years ago and have been exploiting the security breach gateway for the purpose of data mining. Honestly, I believe the report and wouldn't be surprised to learn they actual developed/discovered it. Isn't part of the NSA mission maintaining or strengthening privacy and civil liberties protections? Yet they knowingly exposed or kept the people vulnerable to what experts are calling the most dangerous bug in internet security history. "We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Agreed. I had my doubts about their being charged with maintaining and strengthening privacy and civil liberties protections since they do pretty much the opposite, but you're right. It is part of their mission. So much for mission statements. If they knew about this issue, and I find it difficult to believe that the couldn't have, then it would have been in the best interests of national security if they had publicized it so that we could get it fixed. Instead, it appears that they tried to capitalize on it themselves. If pressed they will probably claim that they foiled numerous nasty terrorist plots with the data they scooped up from this. Of course any details that would support such a claim would be a state secret. http://www.nsa.gov/about/mission/
