New documents released by fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden have revealed how the NSA and U.K. security agency GCHQ hacked into the computers of SIM card manufacturer Gemalto, acquiring encryption keys that would allow them to intercept communications from users around the world.

Gamalto is the world’s largest manufacturer of SIM cards and is used by all four major U.S. networks as well as 450 other telecommunications companies world wide; the chances are if you’ve got a mobile phone nearby it will have a SIM card made by Gamalto in it, and Uncle Sam will be able to listen in to your every call.

According to the report, with these stolen encryption keys intelligence agencies are able to monitor mobile communications without seeking or receiving approval from telecom companies and foreign governments. Having the keys also means that GHCQ and the NSA don’t need to obtain a warrant or a wiretap, while at the same time leaving no trace on the wireless provider’s network that the communications were intercepted.

Possession of the keys also enables the agencies to unlock any encrypted communications they had already intercepted, but could not previously decrypt.

“I’m disturbed, quite concerned that this has happened,” Gemalto Executive Vice President told The Intercept. “The most important thing for me is to understand exactly how this was done, so we can take every measure to ensure that it doesn’t happen again, and also to make sure that there’s no impact on the telecom operators that we have served in a very trusted manner for many years.”

“What I want to understand is what sort of ramifications it has, or could have, on any of our customers…the most important thing for us now is to understand the degree of the breach.”

The report noted that the hacking has international legal implications, particularly in Europe where privacy laws are far stricter than the United States, let alone the geopolitical implications that the NSA and GCHQ could be literally spying on the phone calls of every world leader on the planet.

It really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise though; sure, it’s a new level of hacking we weren’t previously aware of, but given how many revelations there have been previously on the NSA’s spying activities this is just yet another branch on the tree.