The U.S. National Security Agency has hacked into main communication links that connect accounts at Google and Yahoo worldwide, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

This information came to light via documents leaked by Edward Snowden, and from interviews with people the Post characterized as "knowledgeable officials."

By tapping these networks in this way, the agency can collect information from potentially hundreds of millions of accounts, many of them belonging to Americans, the Post said.

Click here to read the full story at WashingtonPost.com

(Watch: Not so secret phone calls)