The National Security Agency has the ability to access user data on the three 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.
The allegations emerge on the heels of a report last week that the NSA had created a program to circumvent encryption intended to protect digital communications. The agency bypassed common Interet encryption methods in a number of ways, including hacking into the servers of private companies to steal encryption keys, collaborating with tech companies to build in back doors, and covertly introducing weaknesses into encryption standards, according to the New York Times.
Earlier reports have indicated that the NSA has the ability to record nearly all domestic and international phone calls -- in case an analyst needed to access the recordings in the future. A Wired magazine article last year disclosed that the NSA has established "listening posts" that allow the agency to collect and sift through billions of phone calls.
Roaming confusion has already caused the NSA to "accidentally" listen in on domestic calls, but according to a report from Spiegel, the organization is capable of a lot more. The German news magazine says it has seen evidence that the NSA can tap smartphones for SMS traffic, location data, contact list information and more. The claims, reportedly outlined in internal NSA documents, specifically call out iOS and BlackBerry devices as targets, describing the ability to access iPhone data by hacking a recently synced PC. BlackBerry access seems a bit more direct, Spiegel reports, suggesting that the NSA can tap into the BlackBerry email system. BlackBerry officials told Spiegel it wouldn't comment on the allegations, but assured the news source that it hasn't provided the NSA with a "'back door' pipeline to our platform." Regardless, it's a haunting claim -- particularly for folks that use BlackBerry devices for their heavily touted security, but considering everything the NSA has been up to recently, we can't say we're entirely surprised.
