Reuters/Rick Wilking

Mass surveillance by the NSA was apparently just the beginning. The agency is now preparing for future wars in cyberspace, in which control over the internet and rival networks will be the key to victory, documents leaked by Edward Snowden reveal.

The National Security Agency’s aim is to be able to use the web to paralyze the enemy’s computer networks and all infrastructures they control – including power and water supplies, factories, airports, and banking systems, Der Spiegel magazine wrote after viewing the secret files.

The publication stresses that international conventions regulating the new digital weapons of the 21st century are almost non-existent, and the only law that applies in the field is “the survival of the fittest."

Mass surveillance by the NSA was only "Phase 0" in America’s digital war strategy, according to the leaked documents. It was intended to detect vulnerabilities in enemy systems so that “stealthy implants" could infiltrate the systems, allowing “permanent accesses.”

Phase Three, which is labeled “Dominate,” enables the agency to “control/destroy critical systems & networks at will through pre-positioned accesses (laid in Phase 0).” According to the internal documents, the NSA’s ultimate goal is “real time controlled escalation,” Der Spiegel wrote.

Slide from NSA presentation published by Der Spiegel

Meanwhile, a presentation by the spy agency, seen by German journalists, forecasts that “the next major conflict will start in cyberspace.”