NSA chief defends US surveillance program at Hackers' convention

The US' National Security Agency (NSA) head defended the government's alleged 'snoop-op' and reportedly challenged the computer system analysts present at the Hacker's convention to build a better system of surveillance if they don't approve of the current one.

The hackers' convention called the Black Hat was held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and chief US Cyber Command General Keith Alexander explained the manner in which the agency's collection of phone records and email data helped them foil 54 terror plots since 1993, Stuff.co.nz reports.

According to the report, Alexander did not mention specifically to leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden of classified documents that brought attention on the government's surveillance efforts but said that the nation needs to know that the agency is doing the right thing.

Alexander further explained that the agency does not do anything outside the legal boundaries of the Patriot Act and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act programs allowing the collection of 'metadata' and added that there are no names in the database or addresses or credit card numbers, the report added.