US and British spy agencies crack internet encryption technology

US and British intelligence agencies have cracked much of the encryption technology that billions of internet users rely on to keep their electronic messages and confidential data safe from prying eyes, according to documents revealed by whistle-blower Edward Snowden.

In doing so, the NSA built powerful supercomputers to break encryption codes and partnered with unnamed technology companies to insert “back doors” into their software, the reports said. Such a practice would give the government access to users’ digital information before it was encrypted and sent over the internet.

“For the past decade, NSA has led an aggressive, multipronged effort to break widely used internet encryption technologies,” according to a 2010 briefing document about the NSA’s accomplishments meant for its UK counterpart, Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ. Security experts told the news organisations such a code-breaking practice would ultimately undermine internet security and leave everyday web users vulnerable to hackers.

The revelations stem from documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who sought asylum in Russia this summer. His leaks, first published by the Guardian, revealed a massive effort by the US government to collect and analyse all sorts of digital data that Americans send at home and around the world.

Those revelations prompted a renewed debate in the United States about the proper balance between civil liberties and keeping the country safe from terrorists. President Barack Obama said he welcomed the debate and called it “healthy for our democracy” but meanwhile criticised the leaks; the Justice Department charged Snowden under the federal Espionage Act.

Thursday’s reports described how some of the NSA’s “most intensive efforts” focused on Secure Sockets Layer, a type of encryption widely used on the web by online retailers and corporate networks to secure their internet traffic. One document said GCHQ had been trying for years to exploit traffic from popular companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Facebook.