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National Security Agency - technical definition

The U.S. organization that coordinates and directs highly specialized activities to protect information systems and to produce foreign intelligence.

On March 3, 2005, the NSA said that it constructed Linux-version security tools to assist in making the U.S. computing infrastructure less vulnerable to intruders. Its success, however, depends on its being adopted by companies and government agencies alike—an outcome that is not all that predictable. After the NSA took a risk in 2000 on the then-emerging Linux operating system, the NSA turned more recently to open-source code. These efforts have produced the NSA’s Security Enhanced Linux ­technology—which the agency says should raise the country’s overall level of cybersecurity.

See Also: Intelligence; Linux; Risk.

Farlex, Inc. NSA. [Online, 2004.] Farlex, Inc. Website. http://www .thefreedictionary.com/NSA; Greenemeier, L. Linux Security Rough Around the Edges, But Improving. [Online, March 3, 2005.] CMP Media LLC Website. http://www.informationweek .com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=60405086.

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