Implode-o-Meter News - Snowden: Flubbed NSA Hack Caused Massive 2012 Syrian Internet Blackout; State Dept. Blamed Assad Gov.

Snowden... said an elite NSA hacking unit was attempting to install malware on a central Syrian router to monitor the nation's Internet activity but accidentally rendered it unusable, putting almost all of the Middle Eastern country in the dark. "If we get caught, we can always point the finger at Israel," he said someone at the NSA joked.
The intelligence agency, realizing its mistake, sought to put the country back online but was only able to do so to the extent that it could cover its tracks, not bring the Internet back. Instead, the State Department pointed fingers. "We condemn this latest assault on the Syrian people's ability to express themselves and communicate with each other," then-State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a press conference days after the shutdown was reported in November 2012.

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Snowden: Flubbed NSA Hack Caused Massive 2012 Syrian Internet Blackout; State Dept. Blamed Assad Gov.