Was The Government Using NSA to Change Amount in Bank Accounts?

[Prison Planet] A White House review panel report into the activities of the NSA suggested that the government was using the spy agency to launch cyber attacks against financial institutions and change the amounts held in bank accounts.

The 300 page report prepared for President Barack Obama by the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology called for the NSA to be stripped of its power to obtain bulk collections of telephone records.

Page 221 of the panel’s report states;

1. Governments should not use surveillance to steal industry secrets to advantage their domestic industry;
    
2. Governments should not use their offensive cyber capabilities to change the amounts held in financial accounts or otherwise manipulate the financial systems.

Trevor Timm from the Electronic Frontier Foundation responded to the report by suggesting that the NSA was targeting major financial institutions.

Does this NSA report recommendation imply that NSA is conducting offensive cyber attacks against financial systems? pic.twitter.com/UlO0HN1vH7
— Trevor Timm (@trevortimm) December 18, 2013

In the aftermath of the Edward Snowden revelations it was confirmed that, “The National Security Agency (NSA) widely monitors international payments, banking and credit card transactions,” under the auspices of an international branch called Follow the Money (FTM), and that the spy agency has full access to the VISA and SWIFT payment systems.

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