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Espionage In Icelandic Parliament

bumburumbi writes "An unauthorised computer, apparently running encrypted software, was found hidden inside an unoccupied office in the Icelandic Parliament, Althingi, connected to the internal network. According to the Reykjavik Grapevine article, serial numbers had been removed and no fingerprints were found. The office had been used by substitute MPs from the Independence Party and The Movement, the Parliamentary group of Birgitta Jonsdottir, whose Twiiter account was recently subpoenaed by US authorities. The Icelandic daily Morgunbladid, under the editorship of Mr David Oddsson, former Prime Minister and Central Bank chief, has suggested that this might be an operation run by Wikileaks. The reporter for the Reykjavik Grapevine, Mr Paul Nikolov is a former substitute MP, having taken seat in Parliament in 2007 and 2008."

6 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. Rogue servers by HomelessInLaJolla · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I love reading the stories posted by the readership about all of the odd systems found stuck in closets and under desks which nobody knows what are doing.

    Specifically... does anyone have any about Wall Street or Congress?

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    the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac
  2. Re:Wikileaks must have hired the CIA to do it by TheEyes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well, the other possibility is that this is a backup Wikileaks server, running from within the Icelandic parliament.

  3. Re:TrueCrypt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There's also the chance that authorities moved the computer without powering it down.

  4. Re:Run by wikileaks ? by number11 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm trying to think of some government that is less likely than Iceland's to have interesting fodder for WikiLeaks.

    Maybe I'm naive and Iceland is really a hotbed of corruption and intrigue, but somehow it seems unlikely that there's anything to leak, aside from political maneuvers and backbiting that would seem tame in almost any other country. The Icelandic financial institution scandal is pretty long in the tooth at this point. Bugging Iceland would probably be a sign of really poor judgment on the part of any aspiring scandal-monger.

    Of course, every society probably has its quota of twits who are interested in eavesdropping on their colleagues. But with the new interest in Iceland evidenced by the US gummint, you do gotta wonder.

  5. Re:Wikileaks == scapegoat by bug · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There's a strong possibility that you're mistaken in your assertions there. There has been some reporting in the press that Wikileaks activists have actively eavesdropped on data by running one or more rogue Tor servers:
    http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/06/07/100607fa_fact_khatchadourian?currentPage=all#ixzz0pWdlAepe
    There has also been reporting as recently as today that Wikileaks actively gathered data from peer-to-peer file sharing networks:
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-20/wikileaks-may-have-exploited-music-photo-networks-to-get-classified-data.html

  6. Re:TrueCrypt by snowgirl · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I am now officially setting up a background program for my two master servers to ping each other, and should the ping ever fail, they will auto shutdown...

    $paranoia++

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    WARNING! This girl exceeds the MAXIMUM SAFE standards established by the FDA for BRATTINESS