“The revelation is based on a classified intelligence budget provided to the paper by fugitive leaker Edward Snowden, as well as on interviews. Under a $652 million project code-named ‘GENIE,’ US specialists hack foreign computer networks to secretly put them under American control. This involves placing ‘covert implants’ in computers, routers and firewalls, it said, adding that by year’s end ‘GENIE’ is projected to control at least 85,000 ‘malware’ plug-ins in machines around the globe. US intelligence services make ‘routine use’ of government-constructed malware around the globe that ‘differs little in function from the ‘advanced persistent threats’ that US officials attribute to China.’”
