Edward Snowden claims the United States is deploying "MonsterMind," an immense cybersecurity program that might breach the rights of U.S. citizens.

The former NSA contractor and whistleblower told Tech News World the program automatically blocks cyber attacks it detects from entering the U.S.' cyber infrastructure. It also automatically retaliates against the server that originated the attack.

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Because cyber attacks can be spoofed, or sent through multiple innocent third party servers, counterattacking could prove a problem, Snowden said.

The deployment of MonsterMind violates the United States' Fourth Amendment rights, a part of the Bill of Rights that disallows unreasonable searches without a warrant since it will access almost all electronic communications from other nations entering the U.S.

"Judging from that account of MonsterMind, it sounds like it could very well be a violation of Fourth Amendment rights, although it's hard to say without any more information," said Hudson Kingston, legal director of the Center for the Digital Democracy.

Other spying tools at the disposal of the National Security Agency or NSA include what Hudson refers to as "fig leaf" controls that limit the gathering and distribution of more private messages, an aspect that MonsterMind currently lacks.

"Mass collection of personal information is a violation of privacy rights even if it might be used to stop cyberattacks, and the NSA does not seem to be balancing constitutional protections in its efforts to intercept all traffic on the Internet," Hudson said.

Darren Hayes, an assistant professor and director of cybersecurity at the Seidenberg School of CSIS at Pace University, is comfortable with the program that violates some of the nation's core values.

He said the United States' stability may be threatened by a digital war. He noted the NSA and other similar agencies are busy trying to establish methods of defense, identify threat sources and how to retaliate effectively.

Tagshackers, Cyber, cybersecurity, internet security, Internet Privacy, Privacy, Fourth Amendment, Edward Snowden