<s>
MUSCULAR	B-Application
(	O
DS-200B	O
)	O
,	O
located	O
in	O
the	O
United	O
Kingdom	O
,	O
is	O
the	O
name	O
of	O
a	O
surveillance	O
program	O
jointly	O
operated	O
by	O
Britain	O
's	O
Government	O
Communications	O
Headquarters	O
(	O
GCHQ	O
)	O
and	O
the	O
U.S.	O
National	O
Security	O
Agency	O
(	O
NSA	O
)	O
that	O
was	O
revealed	O
by	O
documents	O
released	O
by	O
Edward	O
Snowden	O
and	O
interviews	O
with	O
knowledgeable	O
officials	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GCHQ	O
and	O
the	O
NSA	O
have	O
secretly	O
broken	O
into	O
the	O
main	O
communications	O
links	O
that	O
connect	O
the	O
data	B-Operating_System
centers	I-Operating_System
of	O
Yahoo	B-Application
!	I-Application
</s>
<s>
and	O
Google	B-Application
.	I-Application
</s>
<s>
MUSCULAR	B-Application
is	O
one	O
of	O
at	O
least	O
four	O
other	O
similar	O
programs	O
that	O
rely	O
on	O
a	O
trusted	O
2nd	O
party	O
,	O
programs	O
which	O
together	O
are	O
known	O
as	O
WINDSTOP	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
a	O
30-day	O
period	O
from	O
December	O
2012	O
to	O
January	O
2013	O
,	O
MUSCULAR	B-Application
was	O
responsible	O
for	O
collecting	O
181	O
million	O
records	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
the	O
leaked	O
document	O
the	O
NSA	O
's	O
acquisitions	O
directorate	O
sends	O
millions	O
of	O
records	O
every	O
day	O
from	O
internal	O
Yahoo	B-Application
!	I-Application
</s>
<s>
and	O
Google	B-Application
networks	O
to	O
data	O
warehouses	O
at	O
the	O
agency	O
's	O
headquarters	O
at	O
Fort	O
Meade	O
,	O
Maryland	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
The	O
Washington	O
Post	O
,	O
the	O
MUSCULAR	B-Application
program	O
collects	O
more	O
than	O
twice	O
as	O
many	O
data	O
points	O
(	O
"	O
selectors	O
"	O
in	O
NSA	O
jargon	O
)	O
compared	O
to	O
the	O
better	O
known	O
PRISM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
PRISM	O
,	O
the	O
MUSCULAR	B-Application
program	O
requires	O
no	O
(	O
FISA	O
or	O
other	O
type	O
of	O
)	O
warrants	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
of	O
the	O
huge	O
amount	O
of	O
data	O
involved	O
,	O
MUSCULAR	B-Application
has	O
presented	O
a	O
special	O
challenge	O
to	O
NSA	O
's	O
Special	O
Source	O
Operations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
when	O
Yahoo	B-Application
!	I-Application
</s>
<s>
decided	O
to	O
migrate	O
a	O
large	O
amount	O
of	O
mailboxes	O
between	O
its	O
data	B-Operating_System
centers	I-Operating_System
,	O
the	O
NSA	O
's	O
PINWALE	O
database	O
(	O
their	O
primary	O
analytical	O
database	O
for	O
the	O
Internet	O
)	O
was	O
quickly	O
overwhelmed	O
with	O
the	O
data	O
coming	O
from	O
MUSCULAR	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Closely	O
related	O
programmes	O
are	O
called	O
INCENSER	O
and	O
TURMOIL	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
TURMOIL	B-Application
,	O
belonging	O
to	O
the	O
NSA	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
system	O
for	O
processing	O
the	O
data	O
collected	O
from	O
MUSCULAR	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
a	O
post-it	O
style	O
note	O
from	O
the	O
presentation	O
,	O
the	O
exploitation	O
relied	O
on	O
the	O
fact	O
that	O
(	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
at	O
least	O
)	O
data	O
was	O
transmitted	O
unencrypted	O
inside	O
Google	B-Application
's	I-Application
private	O
cloud	O
,	O
with	O
"	O
Google	B-Application
Front	O
End	O
Servers	O
"	O
stripping	O
and	O
respectively	O
adding	O
back	O
SSL	B-Protocol
from/to	O
external	O
connections	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
the	O
information	O
about	O
MUSCULAR	B-Application
was	O
published	O
by	O
the	O
press	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
announced	O
that	O
it	O
was	O
working	O
on	O
deploying	O
encrypted	O
communication	O
between	O
its	O
datacenters	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
early	O
November	O
2013	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
announced	O
that	O
it	O
was	O
encrypting	O
traffic	O
between	O
its	O
data	B-Operating_System
centers	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
mid-November	O
,	O
Yahoo	B-Application
!	I-Application
</s>
<s>
Google	B-Application
engineer	O
Brandon	O
Downey	O
stated	O
the	O
following	O
on	O
Google+	B-Application
:	O
</s>
