The classified documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden indicate that apart from the US' NSA and the UK's GCHQ, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD)is also reportedly part of the bigger 'snoop-op' in which these intelligence agencies cracked the encryption codes of tech giants to gather information.
Documents suggest that the ASD was expected to be granted access to the encryption code cracking under the umbrella Prism programme for gathering huge trail of internet users' data for government consumption.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the agencies referred to these secret hacking programs as 'Bullrun' and 'Edgehill' and the ASD was expected to be part of it.
The documents state that the data would be collected from Computer Network Exploitation (CNE) in collaboration with other intelligence agencies, investments in high performance computers and development of advanced mathematical techniques.
The report said that it was revealed earlier that the ASD is in a partnership with British, American and Singaporean intelligence agencies to tap undersea fibre-optic telecommunications cables carrying phone and internet traffic that link Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
The encryption technology is used to keep information safe on the internet and the secret documents revealed that the NSA invested billions of dollars since 2000 for developing powerful technology and using supercomputers to intercept nearly everyone's secrets.
