U.S. President Barack Obama's administration needs to answer several questions about the privacy implications of a new version of a computer intrusion detection system that can reportedly read e-mail, a privacy and civil rights advocacy group said.

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), in a report released Tuesday, called on the Obama administration to release information about the legal authority for the so-called Einstein intrusion detection system, a version of which has been rolled out at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The CDT report also asks the Obama administration to release information about the role of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) in the development and operation of Einstein 3, a new version of the software reportedly being developed.

The second version of Einstein is deployed at the DHS and is being rolled out to other U.S. agencies. While Einstein 2 is able to detect malicious code during predefined code signatures, Einstein 3 will also be able to read e-mail and other Internet traffic, according to recent press reports.

"This raises se Read More