Snowden says US government hacked global mobile networks

Documents from Edward Snowden released by The Intercept website on Thursday showed that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been hacking into global mobile communications networks over the past few years in an attempt to circumvent or undermine their information security mechanisms.

The documents revealed a classified operation codenamed AURORAGOLD, which aimed to collect information about the internal systems of mobile operators to find vulnerabilities for subsequent NSA hacking. According to reports, as of May 2012, through this operation, the NSA obtained technical information on about 70% of the world's mobile communication networks.

Last year, other documents released by Snowden showed that the NSA used outdated but still widely used encryption technology, known as the A5/1 protocol, to spy on calls and text messages. The latest revelations show that the NSA also tried to attack newer, more powerful mobile phone encryption technology, such as A5/3.

To achieve this goal, the NSA hacked into internal emails of mobile operator employees and spied on the GSM Association, a London-based industry group for mobile communications whose members include hundreds of global carriers such as Verizon, AT&T and Vodafone, as well as technology companies such as Microsoft, Facebook, Nokia and Samsung.

The Intercept website also released a top-secret map showing that the NSA has achieved deep "network coverage" covering almost every country in the world. Earlier this year, documents provided by Snowden showed that the NSA has the ability to monitor the entire mobile communication network of two countries, including the Bahamas and Afghanistan.

Last year, news broke that the NSA was secretly developing ways to circumvent many types of encryption on the internet.

Information security experts believe that the NSA's actions are very dangerous because if the NSA finds a technical loophole but does not notify the relevant manufacturers to fix it, then anyone else can exploit these loopholes.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.