The National Security Agency has carried out surveillance of most of the world’s cell phone operators by covertly obtaining and leveraging loopholes in their security measures. Telecommunications trade groups were infiltrated under several NSA programs, the extent of which was revealed this weekend by the website The Intercept, whose cofounders Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras have worked closely with whistleblower Edward Snowden to release classified documents.

The latest batch of documents from Snowden lays out the workings of two previously unknown NSA operations called Wireless Portfolio Management Office and the Target Technology Trends Center. The two combined in the operation known internally as Auroragold, which spied on the UK-based GSM Association, a trade group whose membership is comprised of cell phone networks and manufacturers, including Verizon, T-Mobile and Microsoft.

Auroragold monitored a total of 1,201 email addresses and closely watched the GSM Association to obtain the group’s internal communications about security flaws in its networks. The NSA collected the so-called IR.21 documents that GSMA members used to report security flaws and details about encryption used by mobile networks.

As of May 2012, the NSA has technical data on more than 70 percent of the world’s 985 mobile phone networks. Snowden’s documents revealed that the agency’s targets included hostile nations such as Libya, China, and Iran, as well as a host of others that were not mentioned.

The NSA responded to The Intercept’s disclosures by stating that it was not running afoul of U.S. laws pertaining to intelligence collection. “Terrorists, weapons proliferators, and other foreign targets often rely on the same means of communication as ordinary people. In order to anticipate and understand evolving threats to our citizens and our allies, NSA works to identify and report on the communications of valid foreign targets,” the NSA’s statement read.