According to the Snowden files and his personal disclosures, the United States and the United Kingdom could easily access anybody’s information from emails, banking, medical records and other items having decoded key online security protocols easily.
The GCHQ along with its equivalent the NSA in the United States had received “backdoor” access to security systems. The disclosures also said that the NSA spends $250 million yearly for access to the information.
The official codename of the NSA operation is Bullrun, which is the name of an American Civil War battle. The GCHQ’s program is called Edgehill, which is also named for the first engagement of the English civil war.
Among the list of security backdoors both agencies have were the encryption of most 4G smartphones, email, online shopping, remote business communication networks, Google, Yahoo and Facebook accounts.
NSA’s Bullrun allowed the NSA supercomputers that helped crack the technology that scrambles and encrypts the information as it passes through the Internet. Specialized software from unknown contractors also allowed the agency backdoors to many software and applications.
No companies were named in Snowden’s document. However, the NSA employed code-breaking computers and programs that allowed entry points into their products.
Edward Snowden had recently received asylum for one year in Russia and he has not given a statement to the media personally today.