US spy chief to speak about internet security at Dutch conference

DutchNews.nl, Friday 23 August 2013

NSA General Keith Alexander

The controversial director of America's National Security Agency is visiting the Netherlands next month at the invitation of telecoms firm KPN, the company confirmed on Friday.

General Keith Alexander is speaking at a private KPN symposium which is focusing on privacy and cyber security, magazine Vrij Nederland reported earlier.

Troels Oerting, head of Europol's cybercrime centre and former Dutch armed forces chief turned cyber security expert Dick Berlijn are also on the list of speakers.

According to KPN, Alexander will speak about 'threats and developments in terms of internet security'.

Snowden

Alexander had already been invited before whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked information about NSA's internet spying activities, KPN said.

The NSA and the FBI are accused of tapping directly into the central servers of leading US internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time.

According to the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, NSA has access to 75% of US internet traffic.