NSA reportedly had plans to hack into smartphones via Android app stores

According to a top secret document, the National Security Agency, together with some of its closest allies, had plans on hacking into an untold amount of smartphones by using spyware that would have been dispensed through Android app stores.

It certainly could pass off for a plot line that would feel right at home in a Mission Impossible movie, but the top secret documents suggests the plan was indeed real.

The widespread hack would have been part of a surveillance project launched by an electronic eavesdropping unit known as the Network Tradecraft Advancement Team, according to The Intercept.

The team itself included spies from countries that belonged to the so-called "Five Eyes" alliance. Included in the group are the countries of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

All five of the nations included in the alliance have a joint agreement in place indicating that they would not spy on each other, according to 9 to 5 Google.

The surveillance project would have reportedly utilized the Internet spying system XKEYSCORE to properly identify the smartphone traffic that was moving across different Internet cables. It would then be used to track the connections from the smartphone to the app stores which were then being operated by Google and Samsung.

Once connections had been established, the next part of the project involved sending malware to specific devices in an attempt to gather data from those very same smartphones without its user ever knowing there was something going on.

The app stores themselves were supposed to have been usable as hubs for deploying malware to specific devices, according to Softpedia.

Aside from dispensing malware, the project could have even escalated to the point of spreading propaganda, as the targeted devices could have received misinformation designed to bring about a desired outcome.

The NSA would also use the project to gain access to Google and Samsung's servers for the purposes of collecting information.