Edward Snowden: 'Smartphones can be taken over' - BBC News

Published on 5 Oct 2015

" In his first UK TV interview US whistleblower Edward Snowden has given the BBC new details of GCHQ's ability to hack users' smart phones without their knowledge. Mr Snowden, a former analyst with the US National Security Agency (NSA) told Panorama there was `very little` the public could do to stop GCHQ - the British government's digital spy agency - getting control of their handsets. He described a series of intercept capabilities named after Smurfs - the little blue imps of Belgian cartoon fame. The UK government declined to comment on "intelligence matters".