The National Security Agency is now able to bypass smartphone security measures and access data from Blackberry, Android and iPhone devices, according to German news outlet Der Spiegel.
The Deutsch magazine said that the NSA, along with U.K. counterpart GCHQ, has established teams designated to crack security codes of major smartphone providers. The team’s goal is to gather intelligence pertaining to potential terrorist activities.
Secret documents cited by Der Spiegal indicate that the NSA’s techniques are being used for surveillance of potential terrorist threats and not for mass surveillance of Americans. No mention was made of how the documents were actually acquired.
According to Der Spiegal, the data in question includes, “contacts, call lists, SMS traffic, notes and location information.”
In response, thousands of protestors in Berlin demanded the NSA stop spying on internet users, according to BBC News.
Students on campus have expressed mixed feelings about this apparent cell phone spying.
“I feel like I don’t want to be spied on, but I also feel like we’re in an environment where we need to be cautious, said Stephanie Deguzman, a junior in psychology.
Stephen Marrujo, a junior in business administration, said he was outraged by the possibility of the NSA monitoring smartphones.
“The fact that they’re capable of knowing so much about my iPhone activity absolutely terrifies me,” Marrujo said. “There has to be something unconstitutional about this.”
Professor Mladen Vouk, N.C. State Computer Science Department Head, is uncertain of the NSA’s real ability to obtain smartphone information, but he stressed the importance of encrypted data in today’s society.
“Encryption is an absolutely necessary and valid part of information technology, electronic data , transaction integrity, reliability, security, privacy and safety,” said Vouk. “It protects against accidental and/or deliberate attacks on our data, infrastructure and our information assisted day-to-day activities and our well-being”.
Professor Vouk is not alone in his opinion among experts in the field.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and Founder of Facebook, along with other internet giants from Microsoft, Google, Apple and Yahoo have denied accusations of NSA access to their servers, according to Fox News.
Zuckerberg said that the NSA’s assurance of only targeting terrorist threats has not helped international companies with a diverse customer range.
“[They said] don’t worry, we’re not spying on any Americans,” Zuckerberg said to Fox News, “Wonderful, that’s really helpful for companies trying to work with people around the world,”.
Zuckerberg also told reporters at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco the U.S. government did a poor job balancing the situation.
“Our job is to protect everyone who uses Facebook,” Zuckerberg said to Fox News “Our government’s job is to protect all of us and our freedoms and the economy and companies…frankly I think the government blew it.”
The article comes days after U.S intelligence officials declassified documents revealing over three years of privacy violations committed by the NSA.
