Greek, U.S. Officials Tapped For Years

Bruce Schneier posts on a story being reported in the Seattle Intelligencer. Greek and U.S. officials in Greece apparently had their phones tapped for over a year before the 2004 Olympics. From the article: "It was not known who was responsible for the taps, which numbered about 100 and included Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis and his wife, and the ministers of foreign affairs, defense, public order and justice. Most of Greece's top military and police officers were also targeted, as were foreign ministry officials and a U.S. embassy number. Also tapped were some journalists and human rights activists." Schneier gives a bit of technical background on how the tapping was accomplished.

Comments

Organized Crime?

[egarland]

This sounds like an organized crime activity to me. Lots of cash flowing around and knowing people's secrets could be just what somebody needed to get a fat contract where they could skim millions. Follow the money and you'll probably find who did this, even if you cant prove it.

I wouldn't be surpriesd if organized crime here in the US hadn't figured out a way to tap into people's phone calls. The telepone companies don't seem to care who listens to our phone calls anymore.

It's time for end to end encryption of all communications. We should get an SSL session from one handset to the other.

First rule of phone tapping:

[DysenteryInTheRanks]

The first rule of surveillance is this: Always bug yourself.

"Omykod, neighbor, I just discovered a webcame in MY shower, too! Chekkidout!"

"Wow dude, someone put that same keylogger on my laptop, too! Here it is, right in the process list on my Windows Task Manager!"

"Greek Allies: Thank you for sharing your concerns that we were behind the recent suspicious rerouting of cell phone calls made by your top government officials. As you can see from the attached mobile phone company records, our embassy has been a victim of this heinous eavesdropping as well. We look forward to working with you to find the Real Perpetrators. Sincerely, CIA Field Chief -REDACTED-"

Not the whole story...

[Sub Zero 992]

Some more interesting details:

1) The software used was developed by Vodafone's major supplier,
Ericsson. It was installed although Vodafone does not own any licenses
to use it.
http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_polit ics_371_03/02/2006_172382

2) Vodafone was notified by a Reseller, Q-Telecoms, about delays in
text message delivery, after which they undertook an ad-hoc analysis.
They found the software, supposedly a remotely activated Trojan (how
the hell could a Trojan get onto an SMS gateway?), by sheer luck, and
then disconnected the computer from the network.

3) The day after (2) the local security manager was discovered dead.
"Suicide", don't you know.

4) Ta Nea (http://digital.tanea.gr/) are claiming it was the CIA,
since the remote proxy used for collecting data appeared to lie in the
vicinity of the American and / or British embassies. How amateurish is
that? Their motive was "Anti-Terrorism" before, during and evidently
also after the 2004 Olympics, which is no doubt why the list of
mobiles being tracked also included those of some prominent, and very
very active (if you follow the news about bombs and firebombs at Greek
banks and ministries, you'll know what I mean) anarchists (not
commies, much more left wing than those boy-scouts).

So long,