The NSA's giant database will be breached. It's only a matter of time. It could be state-sponsored (e.g. like the OPM theft), or it could be due to the NSA's own lack of internal security oversight. Maybe not this year, maybe not next. I certainly won't have anything to do with it. But it'll eventually happen. What then?
What makes you think they are not already breached?
By any available evidence, these guys can't even maintain a simple download counter on their wiki. A random IT contractor like Snowden was already gone for a month and they had no idea. I think they still have no clue what he has.
All the science fiction gives this very distorted picture when really the people working at the NSA are private-sector leftovers, and even if someone with half a brain slips into their ranks, a layer of ignorance and government inefficiency will promptly suffocate them. It's a good thing, their incompetence is our only protection.
Surveillance state is all about $$, it's an evolving industry where people have figured out how to make billions. I share the same doubts with OP here, they aren't as much of a Big Brother as they are just a bloated cash cow scraping by & keeping appearances. They aren't particularly competent primarily because they don't really care as much as we think they do.
Obviously it's still a terrible situation to setup this infrastructure given the potential for abuse, so I'm not defending it. I'm just saying I've been an American long enough to know $$ is at the heart of this, not control, and the $$ they're getting isn't dependent on how good of a job they do so don't expect a well oiled machined.
Do you even have anecdotes to back this up? I'd prefer some kind of data, a citation or a revelation from you, but even anecdotes allow me to consider internal consistency.
Lately, I'm becoming very suspicious of infosec people who imply huge threats, or mystical capabilities.
"NSA officials picked up on Google research in 2007 that ultimately paved the way for the intelligence agency’s formal adoption of cloud computing in 2010—part of a broad effort within the intelligence community to more effectively share data and services. In a similar move, the CIA last year signed a contract with Amazon Web Services for a cloud to be used by all 17 intelligence agencies."
The NSA's databases must be the Holy Grail for other governments and criminals.
I would hope (but do not expect) that the NSA or some other agency has a permanent penetration effort over those networks and databases, to discover vulnerabilities before others do. Because bygawd you know other governments and criminals must be so currently engaged.
Could already be breached, and we would probably never know. It's not feasible for somebody to post all the info online like often happens in hacks, there's just too much data.
