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          US, British Intelligence Agencies Foil Encryption Strategies

   Documents leaked by former U.S. intelligence analyst Edward Snowden
   indicate that U.S. and British spy agencies have cracked encryption
   codes designed to provide online privacy and security.
   The codes are used by hundreds of millions of people to protect their
   personal data, online transactions and email correspondence.
   The files show the U.S. National Security Agency and Britain`s GCHQ -
   working closely together - have compromised the guarantees Internet
   companies make to their customers reassuring them their communications
   and personal records remain private. The records show the security
   agencies have collaborated with Internet companies to leave
   vulnerabilities -- known as "backdoors" or "trapdoors" -- in commercial
   encryption software.
   The records show the NSA spends some $250 million a year on the
   program, and note that the British security agency has been working on
   ways to enter the encrypted traffic streams of such companies as Yahoo,
   Google, Hotmail and Facebook.
   The leaked information is likely to cause fierce backlash among privacy
   advocates.
   U.S. government officials have argued that NSA surveillance efforts are
   only aimed at stopping terrorism.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/us-british-intelligence-agencies-foil
   -encryption-strategies/1744411.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-british-intelligence-agencies-foil-encryption-strategies/1744411.html