XKeyscore is the name of the NSA’s tool for collecting and analysing global internet data. Formerly a secret program, it was revealed to the public as part of the Snowden revelations.
Within the leaked documents, the NSA claimed XKeyscore to be their ‘widest reaching’ tool. Edward Snowden claimed that the tool allowed any NSA analyst with access to browse the emails, communications and browsing histories of anyone without requiring any authorisation, as long as they had identifying information of the target (although government figures denied that this was true).
Last updated: 17 October 2017