New reports reveal international spy agencies, including Australian tried to hack Android devices

A NEW Snowden report has revealed international spy agencies, including those from Australia were involved in the attempted hacking of phones in 2012.

ASIO tried to hack your Android

A NEW leaked report has revealed that several government spy agencies across the world, including Australian agencies tried to hack into phones via the Google Play Store and Samsung’s app store.

The documents obtained by CBC News showed that the various spy agencies in 2011 began targeting a popular web browsing app in China and North America after it discovered it leaked revealing details about its users.

By 2012, the agencies were exploiting more weaknesses in various apps to try and collect data and even deploy spyware without informing the companies or the public the weaknesses existed.

The intelligence agencies could also use the spyware to send misinformation to targets to confuse potential adversaries, according to the report.

This left those same holes open potentially for other government agencies or hackers to steal data.

The online news site The Intercept on Thursday added that Australian spies worked with allies in the United States, New Zealand, Britain and Canada, a group known as the “Five Eyes” alliance.

The report, based on a document leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, said the plan aimed to step up surveillance efforts on smartphones.

The plan appeared to have been discussed at meetings involving intelligence services in 2011 and 2012, according to the classified document.

The Intercept said the plan was motivated in part by concerns about the possibility of “another Arab Spring,” or the spread of popular movements.

The agencies were particularly interested in Africa, especially Senegal, Sudan and the Congo but also targeted app store servers in France, Cuba, Morocco, Switzerland, Bahamas, the Netherlands and Russia.

At the time, the Google app store was called Android Market. It is now known as Google Play.

In developing the plan the agencies found weaknesses in UC Browser, an app owned by Alibaba Group which is popular in China and India to browse the internet and is used by some 500 million people worldwide.

In one case, according to the CBC, analysts found a foreign military using the UC Browser app to communicate covertly about its operations in Western countries.