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Report: US and UK agencies cracked encryption codes

British and US intelligence agencies have been secretly unraveling encryption technology that billions of Internet users rely upon to keep their electronic messages and confidential data safe, according to the Guardian.

Intelligence agencies are accused of cracking the codes used to keep personal data secret on the Internet Credit: JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press/Press Association Images

The claims are based on documents from the US National Security Agency (NSA) and its British counterpart GCHQ that were leaked by the whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The Guardian reports that the agencies have bypassed or altogether cracked much of the digital encryption used by businesses and everyday web users.

This work reportedly included working with unnamed technology companies to insert "back doors" into commercial encryption software.

One NSA briefing document from 2010 is cited as saying: "For the past decade, NSA has led an aggressive, multipronged effort to break widely used Internet encryption technologies."