Fiber

The National Security Agency intercepted and recorded data from technology giants Google and Yahoo through the fiber-optic cable links between the data centers of the tech giants, a report revealed on Tuesday.

It is pertinent to mention here that in October reports surfaced that NSA was able to access information from Google and Yahoo. Now it has been revealed that the method used to reach and copy the data was to intercept the link between the data centers of the Internet companies, according to a report by CNET.

Experts believe that the NSA used the fiber-optic cables that connect the data centers together, in particular, to record users data of the companies involved.

On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that these cables are not under the ownership of the Internet companies and are very easy to intercept. One of the top fiber-optic cable providers is the Denver-based Level 3. Experts suspect that Level 3 may have something to do with the government's infiltration mechanism.

Some of the other companies in the business are Verizon Communications, the BT Group, and the Vodafone Group.

Whether Level 3 participated willingly in the NSA operation is yet to be determined. Upon interrogation the company gave a very indirect response.

'It is our policy and our practice to comply with laws in every country where we operate, and to provide government agencies access to customer data only when we are compelled to do so by the laws in the country where the data is located.'

Both high tech companies, Google and Yahoo, have made efforts to encrypt the data that flows between the two data centers.

It has been almost half a year since the disclosure of documents containing secret information about surveillance program of the NSA came forward. Details of the program were leaked by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

As the news of the US government's spy system came out in the open, the tech companies were quick to state that they were neither involved in nor aware about the program.

'I want to reiterate what we have said in the past: Yahoo has never given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency. Ever,' Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said in a blog post.