NSA implanted malicious software in computers worldwide: Report

The US National Security Agency reportedly implanted malicious software in nearly 100,000 computers worldwide, with which it US was able to conduct surveillance on those machines while creating a digital highway for launching cyberattacks, The New York Times reported.

According to the report, the NSA inserted most of the software by gaining access to computer networks, but also increasingly made use of a secret technology that enabled it to enter and alter data in computers even if they were not connected to the internet.

According to the report, which cites NSA documents, US officials and computer experts, the technology relied on a covert channel of radio waves that could be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and memory cards physically inserted into the computer.

It added that the NSA had successfully implanted the software into such targets as Russian military networks, systems used by Mexican police and drug cartels, trade groups inside the EU, and anti-terrorism partners such as Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan.

According to the newspaper, there was so far no evidence the NSA had implanted its software or used the radio frequency technology inside the US.

Meanwhile, president Barack Obama would deliver a speech on Friday, outlining steps he intended to take to reform the agency's practices.

According to The New York Times, the  technology, used by the agency since at least 2008, relied on a covert channel of radio waves that could be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted surreptitiously into the computers.

In certain cases, these were sent to a briefcase-size relay station that intelligence agencies could set up miles away from the target.

The radio frequency technology had helped solve one of the biggest problems facing American intelligence agencies for years: getting into computers that adversaries, and some American partners, had tried to make impervious to spying or cyberattack, The New York Times report said.

In most cases, the radio frequency hardware  would need to be physically inserted by a spy, a manufacturer or an unwitting user.

According the NSA, its efforts were more an act of ''active defence'' against foreign cyberattacks than a tool to go on the offensive. However, when Chinese attackers had placed similar software on the computer systems of American companies or government agencies, American officials had protested, often at the presidential level.