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Edward Snowden NSA

NSA set to implement a two-person rule to prevent another leak from those with “godlike” access to the system

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By Jennifer Faull, Deputy Editor

June 25, 2013 | 1 min read

The NSA is preparing to roll out a new ‘two-man’ rule in the wake of the massive information leak orchestrated by Edward Snowden.

NSA General Keith Alexander said the two-person rule would limit the access to sensitive information by each of the NSA’s 1,000 system administrators, and would require a second check on each attempt to access data.

“The scariest threat is the systems administrator, [who] has godlike access to systems they manage,” said Eric Chiu, president of computer security company Hytrust, to the New York Times.

These system administrators, more often than not, have unlimited access to everything that is moving through their employers’ computer networks meaning if they really want to leak sensitive information they can do so relatively easily.

However, others have called for more immediate action from the NSA to flush out another Snowden, suggesting the government organisation should look carefully at all of its employees for signs of disillusionment and “scrub” ITs for security issues.

Snowden remains in hiding after being formally charged with theft and espionage.

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