NSA using Google cookies to track suspects

Think Google is tracking your browser activities to better serve you up advertising? Well, they aren't the only ones. The National Security Agency is using the same methods by tracking Google cookies to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance.

The agency's internal presentation slides, provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, show that the same tools that allow advertisers to track users opens the door for the NSA to do the same. The slides also suggest that they can be used to help identify targets for offensive hacking operations.

The intelligence agencies have found particular use for a part of a Google-specific tracking mechanism known as the “PREF” cookie. These cookies contain numeric codes that enable Web sites to uniquely identify a person's browser, but not personal info.

According to the released papers, the NSA is not using the cookie tracking to find suspicious behavior. More so the tracking is to follow people already under suspicion.