Narus
Encyclopedia
Narus is a company, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing
, which provides real-time network traffic and analytics software. It was co-founded in Israel in 1997 by Ori Cohen – who had served as Vice President of Business and Technology Development for VDONet, an early media streaming pioneer – and Stas Khirman.
Narus is notable for being the creator of NarusInsight, a supercomputer
system whose installation in AT&T
's San Francisco Internet backbone
gave rise to a 2006 class action lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
against AT&T, Hepting v. AT&T
.
in 2010. According to the Narus website, Cohen and Khirman are not members of the Board.
Prior to 9/11 Narus worked on building carrier-grade tools to analyze IP network traffic for billing purposes, to prevent what they term "revenue leakage". Post-9/11 they have continued down that path while adding more semantic monitoring abilities for surveillance purposes.
In 2004, Narus engaged the former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency
, William Crowell as a director. From the Press Release announcing this:
Narus has venture funding
from companies including JP Morgan Partners, Mayfield
, NeoCarta, Presidio Venture Partners, Walden International, Intel, NTT Software and Sumisho Electronics.
Narus has several business partners who provide various technologies similar to the features of NarusInsight. Several of the partners are funded by In-Q-Tel
.
The intercepted data flows into NarusInsight Intercept Suite. This data is stored and analyzed for surveillance and forensic analysis purposes.
Other capabilities include playback of streaming media (i.e. VoIP
), rendering of web pages, examination of e-mail
and the ability to analyze the payload/attachments of e-mail or file transfer protocols. Narus partner products, such as Pen-Link, offer the ability to quickly analyze information collected by the Directed Analysis or Lawful Intercept modules.
A single NarusInsight machine can monitor traffic equal to the maximum capacity (10 Gbit/s) of around 39,000 DSL lines or 195,000 telephone modems. But, in practical terms, since individual internet connections are not continually filled to capacity, the 10 Gbit/s capacity of one NarusInsight installation enables it to monitor the combined traffic of several million broadband users.
According to a company press release, the latest version of NarusInsight Intercept Suite (NIS) is "the industry's only network traffic intelligence system that supports real-time precision targeting, capturing and reconstruction of webmail traffic... including Google Gmail
, MSN Hotmail
, Yahoo! Mail
, and Gawab Mail
(English and Arabic versions)."
It can also perform semantic analysis of the same traffic as it is happening, in other words analyze the content, meaning, structure and significance of traffic in real time. The exact use of this data is not fully documented, as the public is not authorized to see what types of activities and ideas are being monitored.
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
, which provides real-time network traffic and analytics software. It was co-founded in Israel in 1997 by Ori Cohen – who had served as Vice President of Business and Technology Development for VDONet, an early media streaming pioneer – and Stas Khirman.
Narus is notable for being the creator of NarusInsight, a supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
system whose installation in AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
's San Francisco Internet backbone
Internet backbone
The Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers in the Internet...
gave rise to a 2006 class action lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
against AT&T, Hepting v. AT&T
Hepting v. AT&T
Hepting v. AT&T is a United States class action lawsuit filed in January 2006 by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against the telecommunications company AT&T, in which the EFF alleges that AT&T permitted and assisted the National Security Agency in unlawfully monitoring the communications of...
.
Management and investors
Narus was founded in 1997 by a team of Israelis led by Ori Cohen and Stas Khirman. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of BoeingBoeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
in 2010. According to the Narus website, Cohen and Khirman are not members of the Board.
Prior to 9/11 Narus worked on building carrier-grade tools to analyze IP network traffic for billing purposes, to prevent what they term "revenue leakage". Post-9/11 they have continued down that path while adding more semantic monitoring abilities for surveillance purposes.
In 2004, Narus engaged the former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
, William Crowell as a director. From the Press Release announcing this:
- "Crowell is an independent security consultant and holds several board positions with a variety of technology and technology-based security companies. Since 9/11, Crowell has served on the Defense Advanced Research Projects AgencyDefense Advanced Research Projects AgencyThe Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military...
(DARPA) Task Force on Terrorism and Deterrence, the National Research Council Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism and the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age."
Narus has venture funding
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
from companies including JP Morgan Partners, Mayfield
Mayfield Fund
Mayfield Fund is one of the oldest venture capital firms in the US, focusing on early-stage to growth-stage investments in information technology companies with a focus on enterprise software, Internet consumer & media services, and communications....
, NeoCarta, Presidio Venture Partners, Walden International, Intel, NTT Software and Sumisho Electronics.
Narus has several business partners who provide various technologies similar to the features of NarusInsight. Several of the partners are funded by In-Q-Tel
In-Q-Tel
In-Q-Tel of Arlington, Virginia, United States is a not-for-profit venture capital firm that invests in high-tech companies for the sole purpose of keeping the Central Intelligence Agency equipped with the latest in information technology in support of United States intelligence capability...
.
System specification and capabilities
Some features of NarusInsight include:- Scalability to support surveillance of large, complex IP networks (such as the InternetInternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
) - High-speed Packet processing performance, which enables it to sift through the vast quantities of information that travel over the Internet.
- Normalization, Correlation, Aggregation and Analysis provide a model of user, element, protocol, application and network behaviors, in real-time. That is it can track individual users, monitor which applications they are using (e.g. web browsers, instant messaging applications, email) and what they are doing with those applications (e.g. which web sites they have visited, what they have written in their emails/IM conversations), and see how users' activities are connected to each other (e.g. compiling lists of people who visit a certain type of web site or use certain words or phrases in their emails).
- High reliabilityHigh availabilityHigh availability is a system design approach and associated service implementation that ensures a prearranged level of operational performance will be met during a contractual measurement period....
from data collection to data processing and analysis. - NarusInsight's functionality can be configured to feed a particular activity or IP service such as security, lawful interceptLawful interceptionLawful interception is obtaining communications network data pursuant to lawful authority for the purpose of analysis or evidence. Such data generally consist of signalling or network management information or, in fewer instances, the content of the communications...
or even SkypeSkypeSkype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...
detection and blocking. - Compliance with CALEACommunications Assistance for Law Enforcement ActThe Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act is a United States wiretapping law passed in 1994, during the presidency of Bill Clinton...
and ETSIEuropean Telecommunications Standards InstituteThe European Telecommunications Standards Institute is an independent, non-profit, standardization organization in the telecommunications industry in Europe, with worldwide projection...
. - Certified by Telecommunication Engineering CenterTelecommunication Engineering CenterThe Telecommunication Engineering Center is a body under telecom commission and a nodal agency of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India which is responsible for drawing up of standards, generic requirements, interface...
(TEC) in IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
for lawful intercept and monitoring systems for ISPs.
The intercepted data flows into NarusInsight Intercept Suite. This data is stored and analyzed for surveillance and forensic analysis purposes.
Other capabilities include playback of streaming media (i.e. VoIP
Voice over IP
Voice over Internet Protocol is a family of technologies, methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission techniques for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol networks, such as the Internet...
), rendering of web pages, examination of e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
and the ability to analyze the payload/attachments of e-mail or file transfer protocols. Narus partner products, such as Pen-Link, offer the ability to quickly analyze information collected by the Directed Analysis or Lawful Intercept modules.
A single NarusInsight machine can monitor traffic equal to the maximum capacity (10 Gbit/s) of around 39,000 DSL lines or 195,000 telephone modems. But, in practical terms, since individual internet connections are not continually filled to capacity, the 10 Gbit/s capacity of one NarusInsight installation enables it to monitor the combined traffic of several million broadband users.
According to a company press release, the latest version of NarusInsight Intercept Suite (NIS) is "the industry's only network traffic intelligence system that supports real-time precision targeting, capturing and reconstruction of webmail traffic... including Google Gmail
Gmail
Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...
, MSN Hotmail
Hotmail
Windows Live Hotmail, formerly known as MSN Hotmail and commonly referred to simply as Hotmail, is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group. It was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and launched in July 1996 as "HoTMaiL". It was one of the first...
, Yahoo! Mail
Yahoo! Mail
Yahoo! Mail is a web mail service provided by Yahoo!. It was inaugurated in 1997, and, according to comScore, Yahoo! Mail was the second largest web-based email service with 273.1 million users as of November 2010....
, and Gawab Mail
Gawab
Gawab.com is a Web-based email service provider in the Middle East region. A WHOIS lookup shows a registrant in Alexandria, Egypt. Established in 1999, Gawab is amongst a small group of email providers that provide single-page application webmail interface built on AJAX technology. The word "gawab"...
(English and Arabic versions)."
It can also perform semantic analysis of the same traffic as it is happening, in other words analyze the content, meaning, structure and significance of traffic in real time. The exact use of this data is not fully documented, as the public is not authorized to see what types of activities and ideas are being monitored.
See also
- Hepting vs. AT&T, the 2006 lawsuit in which the Electronic Frontier FoundationElectronic Frontier FoundationThe Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
alleges AT&TAT&TAT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
allowed the NSA to tap the entirety of its clients' Internet and Voice over IPVoice over IPVoice over Internet Protocol is a family of technologies, methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission techniques for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol networks, such as the Internet...
communications using Narus equipment. - Computer surveillanceComputer surveillanceComputer surveillance is the act of performing surveillance of computer activity, and of data stored on a hard drive or being transferred over the Internet....
- Total Information Awareness
- Communications Assistance For Law Enforcement ActCommunications Assistance for Law Enforcement ActThe Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act is a United States wiretapping law passed in 1994, during the presidency of Bill Clinton...
- ECHELONECHELONECHELON is a name used in global media and in popular culture to describe a signals intelligence collection and analysis network operated on behalf of the five signatory states to the UK–USA Security Agreement...
- Carnivore
- Room 641ARoom 641ARoom 641A is an intercept facility operated by AT&T for the U.S. National Security Agency, beginning in 2003. Room 641A is located in the SBC Communications building at 611 Folsom Street, San Francisco, three floors of which were occupied by AT&T before SBC purchased AT&T...
- SIGINTSIGINTSignals intelligence is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether between people , whether involving electronic signals not directly used in communication , or combinations of the two...
- LINCOLNLINCOLNLINCOLN, manufactured by the company Pen-Link, Ltd., is a class of electronic data interception products—including both computer hardware and software packages—whose function is to extract and analyze internet traffic for mass surveillance purposes, such as those outlined under the Communications...
External links
- Official website
- Wired News article
- Wired News article (AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein discusses Narus STA 6400)
- Frontline Flash Video "Spying on the Home Front" TV documentary originally aired on PBS 15 May 2007 with a section entitled "The NSA's Eavesdropping at AT&T" with the story of Mark Klein exposing NSA wiretapping with a secure room and Narus STA 6400 at an AT&T facility in San Francisco, CA