The NSA Selector
39 comments
·May 20, 2025cole-k
This went over my head at first, but I really like it. So for those like me: it converts network traffic into audio output.
YouTube explainer: https://youtu.be/vfgySTaM1TI
tobyjsullivan
For those interested in hearing some beats, the terminal demo starts at 4:34 https://youtu.be/vfgySTaM1TI?t=274
jll29
In NSA parlance, a "selector" primarily is a string that semi-uniquely identifies and addresses a persons intercepted data, such as
- an IP address,
- an email address,
- a phone number,
- a SIM card's MSIN
- a person's social security number,
- a national ID card number,
- a passport number,
- a social media handle etc.
(elsewhere also known as "accessor", "key", "handle" or "index")
jonathanstrange
They are interesting because combining and updating them is a non-trivial problem, as I've realized today while implementing a user ban system.
Terr_
There's a certain system I work with where random visitors on the internet can supply any name, phone, or email of they're choosing, with no validation... And of course, the business wants to somehow convert that into a list of "real people" and start correlating it to other records.
I've been trying to stop anything too terrible from happening by asking them what the business requirements are for handling malicious impersonation, or for ambiguous cases where there's a many-to-many correlation between emails and phone numbers.
dylan604
Since he's building a sequencer, I'm almost disappointed it wasn't named Selecta.
Rewind Bo Selecta!!
tptacek
There used to be a thing on SunOS (I think) where you'd get `ping` to write to /dev/audio so you could diagnose network stuff by sound.
schoen
You can "ping -a" nowadays to get beeps for each reply, but it's not quite as cool!
monster_truck
You can still do this with /dev/dsp or similar. Might need sudo these days
`cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp`
jdthedisciple
thanks this almost crashed my pc
dylan604
some people learn the hard way that blindly copying and pasting things from the interweb directly to a terminal is not always the best of ideas. some times, they're bloody brilliant
fuddy
One of the funnier parameters to encounter in the snoop manpage.
ww520
Good for network wiring diagnostic. It would be great if it can pipe the noise to Bluetooth audio. I can pair a headphone to it, plug this into the network in another room and still can hear it while checking the line connections on the switch/router.
hnuser123456
That audio port is blasting out a total bandwidth of 100 Mbps (4 bits at 25 MHz) versus 768 Kbps for BT audio, assuming a high quality codec (16 bits at 48 KHz), so not without loss.
yapyap
So ridiculous, love it
hottakesbun
The joke is on him - I used to get this functionality for free way back in the day when (what I presume was) RF noise generated during the processing of ethernet traffic would get picked up by my cheap ISA sound card and sent to the speakers. I never built a sequencer out of it though.
sevensor
Back in college, I would listen to AM radio while I worked on my computer. The radio would pick up electrical noise from the keyboard and the mechanical mouse. I wonder if this sounds anything like it.
rurban
Don't forget the GHCQ which installs a mirror on each UK modem. I don't think the NSA goes to these extremes
godman_8
I've worked with quite a few ISPs and exchanges. I haven't set up port mirrors for the NSA but I have setup temporary mirrors for the FBI upon request.
0xbadcafebee
The NSA/govt gets its own dedicated floor in some DCs, esp. large interconnects
simpaticoder
Really cool, but has anyone built software to do this locally on a PC? For example:
sudo tcpdump -i "eth0" -w - -U | aplay -f S16_LE -r 44100als0
Stuff like this is exactly why I come to Hacker News.
psunavy03
Cool idea to audio-ize network traffic. Artwork is peak edgelord cringe, though . . .
1317
You can also achieve something like this with a powerline networking adapter + a shortwave radio
bit evil really, they shit up almost the entire 0-30mhz
but they do work...
> if possible disable encryption, then you can profit from not only timing pattern (of white noise), but also listen in on the plaintext payload. the NSA loves plaintext.
Haha, incredible.
On a more serious note this is a really cool idea. Would be interesting to listen to the same origin traffic in different network conditions to hear things like TCP rate control.