NSA search system providing near-real-time access to virtually all internet activity
XKEYSCORE is an NSA data retrieval system that allows analysts to search through vast databases of intercepted internet communications, including emails, online chats, browsing history, and social media activity. Revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013, XKEYSCORE was described in leaked training materials as the agency's "widest-reaching" collection system.
According to the leaked NSA slides, XKEYSCORE collected so much data that it could only be stored for three to five days at some collection sites before being overwritten. Analysts could search the system using an individual's name, email address, phone number, IP address, or keywords. No prior authorization or court order was required to run a search — only a broad justification entered into an on-screen form.
The existence of XKEYSCORE confirmed fears that the NSA had built a system capable of monitoring nearly all internet activity worldwide. One leaked slide boasted that XKEYSCORE covered "nearly everything a typical user does on the Internet." The system represented the practical infrastructure behind mass surveillance — the interface through which individual analysts could access the communications of virtually anyone on Earth.
