• By   • Danny Yadron  The U.S. government’s chief electronic
eavesdropper can pry into many encrypted communications even if
they don’t get the cooperation from major Internet companies
such as Google or AT&T, according to the latest leaked documents
from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
After years of code-breaking advances, the NSA now can crack
most types of Internet encryption as it leverages a team of
elite hackers and its influence on corporate and international
encryption standards, according to simultaneous reports based on
Snowden documents in the New York Times, the Guardian and
ProPublica.  It has long been known the government can crack
certain types of encryption, but it was never clear how much.
The latest Snowden documents suggest the NSA has access to much
of the Internet communication thought to be shielded from prying
eyes.  The agency has had some success cracking Secure Sockets
Layer, a type of Internet encryption used by webmail clients and
other secure website