The information is disclosed in a new Swedish documentary produced by Uppdrag granskning of the Sveriges Television AB (SVT, the Swedish national broadcaster) after Frederik Laurin, Sven Bergman and Joachim Dyfvermark gained access to the database of Snowden-leaked documents. They were looking for evidence of Swedish involvement in the NSA/GCHQ mass-surveillance operation.
In Rio they met with Glen Greenwald and British journalist Ryan Gallagher, and were able to search for Swedish (but only Swedish) documents. And what they found would seem to confirm the epithet 'Sixth Eye' for Sweden.
Firstly, the NSA has granted the Swedish intelligence agency Försvarets Radioanstalt (the National Defense Radio Establishment known as the FRA) access to its XKeyscore program. XKeyscore is the front end that gives NSA agents and contractors the ability to search its huge databases. Using it, Edward Snowden told the Guardian in June, "I, sitting at my desk," he said, could "wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge or even the president, if I had a personal email."
One particular document found by SVT, headed, "SwedUSA 2013 Strategic Planning Conference" shows that the FRA is seeking an update on a Quantum project known as Winter Light, and that the FRA has access to XKeyscore.
"If the Swedish FRA now has access to the system, as the Snowden documents Indicate, this suggests that the FRA is all part of the unlimited mass surveillance of millions of people worldwide - including Swedes," reports SVT. Gallagher also suggests, "The English public should be made aware that the FRA has access to the system," alluding to the GCHQ Tempora program that taps the fiber cables between the UK and the US.
But particularly concerning is the revelation that Sweden takes part in the NSA/GCHQ man-in-the-middle hacking program known as Quantum. This same document states, "Acknowledge the success that NSA, FRA and GCHQ have had on WinterLight. Last month, we received a message from our Swedish partner that GCHQ received FRA QUANTUM tips that led to 100 shots, five of which were successfully redirected to the GCHQ server... The Quantum effort motivated the recent XKEYSCORE installation. [F]RA is currently evaluating it for use to support their SIGTNT Development work."
There is no indication of the WinterLight targets, but the same document says, "FRA plans to start the conference by giving an overview of its SIGINT Roadmap, to include Russia..." Uppdrag Granskning "asked one of the world’s leading computer security experts, Bruce Schneier, to review the technical formulations in the NSA’s secret documents. He states that there is no doubt that the FRA actively participated in the hacker attack."
Schneier continued, "“Both Quantum and FoxAcid are NSA/GCHQ programmes to attack computer users. The fact that Sweden is involved in these programmes means that Sweden is involved in active attacks against internet users. It is not just passive monitoring. This is an active attack."