NSA can reportedly tap smartphone users' data

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http://m.cnet.com/news/nsa-can-reportedly-tap-smartphone-users-data/57601883?ds=1

September 8, 2013 | Steven Musil

Intelligence-gathering agency has created working groups to access contacts lists, SMS, and user location on the three most popular mobile platforms, according to classified documents viewed by Spiegel.

The National Security Agency has the ability to access user data on three of the most popular smartphone platforms, including BlackBerry's e-mail system, according to classified documents viewed by German news outlet Spiegel.

The US intelligence-gathering agency has created platform-specific working groups to tap the contact lists, SMS traffic, and user location information on the Apple iOS, Google Android, and BlackBerry mobile operating systems, the documents indicate. NSA scripts allow the agency to access at least 38 iPhone features after the agency infiltrates the computer used to sync the device, Spiegel reported.

The documents also indicate that the agency has succeeded at cracking the encryption for BlackBerry's e-mail system, previously considered very secure. The Canadian handset maker told the newspaper that it had not programmed a backdoor pipeline to provide access to data on the platform but decline to comment on the surveillance allegations.

The alleged telecommunications surveillance has been a targeted activity that was performed without the smartphone makers' knowledge, the newspaper reported.

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