NSA planned hack of Google Play: Report

According to a media report, the US National Security Agency made plans to attempt hacking into data links to app stores that are operated by Google and Samsung to implant spyware on smartphones. As per the online news site The Intercept, US intelligence came out with the plan with allies in Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Australia; it is a group known as the ‘Five Eyes’ alliance.

The report is based on a document that has been leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. According to it, the plan is intended to increase surveillance efforts on smartphones. According to the classified document, it appears that the plan have been discussed at meetings, in which the intelligence services in 2011 and 2012 were involved.

The project, which is named as ‘Irritant Horn’, would help the agencies hijack data connections to app stores and secretly implant malicious software on smartphones; it would make it possible to harvest the data. According to the report, the intelligence agencies could also make use of the spyware in order to send misinformation to targets to create confusion among potential adversaries.

According to The Intercept, the plan was inspired partly by issues regarding the possibility of ‘another Arab Spring’ or the spread of movements that are popular.

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

The Google app store was called Android Market during that time and now it is known as Google Play. The agencies found flaws in UC Browser while developing the plan. UC Browser is popular in China and India for Internet browsing.