The document was uploaded to the Canadian edition of the CBC News site. It included descriptions of attempts by New Zealand and its Five Eyes partner group – comprising Canada, the US, Britain and Australia – to place messages and other communication data onto smartphones owned by companies and civilians, according to the New Zealand Herald.
The collective found security vulnerabilities in the Google Play app store as well as Samsung’s own proprietary market for its Galaxy devices. It is alleged they exploited the issues that they found in order to gain access to the devices that would enable them to gather data on users.
By hijacking the connections between an Android phone and Google Play servers, the group could inject malware into downloads when apps were updated via the store. The malware could either extract data from the device for processing or be used to insert data onto the device’s storage.
Civil liberties group OpenMedia has denounced the contents of the document, saying that it could leave the private data of millions of people at risk. The Five Eyes did not inform the public of their activities and the document was marked as “Top Secret.”
The New Zealand Herald reports Auckland-based geopolitical analyst Dr Paul G Buchanan is concerned over how the document highlights yet another case where the law has failed to stop spy agencies. He suggests that a “lag” exists where the spies are ahead of the law, saying “If there’s not a law that specifically prevents them from doing so, then they will do so.”
This time, they were not only extracting data but also apparently working to place messages onto phones to thwart the efforts of rival spy agencies, dropping false details onto the devices to create confusion and uncertainty. Members of the Five Eyes security group have not yet spoken publicly about the revealing leak, another in a long line of revelations made by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
