Britain's GCHQ Hacked Belgian Telecoms Firm.

Britain's GCHQ Hacked Belgian Telecoms Firm.(Spiegel).

Documents from the archive of whistleblower Edward Snowden indicate that Britain's GCHQ intelligence service was behind a cyber attack against Belgacom, a partly state-owned Belgian telecoms company. 

A "top secret" Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) presentation seen by SPIEGEL indicate that the goal of project, conducted under the codename "Operation Socialist," was "to enable better exploitation of Belgacom" and to improve understanding of the provider's infrastructure.

The presentation is undated, but another document indicates that access has been possible since 2010. The document shows that the Belgacom subsidiary Bics, a joint venture between Swisscom and South Africa's MTN, was on the radar of the British spies.

Belgacom, whose major customers include institutions like the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament, ordered an internal investigation following the recent revelations about spying by the United States' National Security Agency (NSA) and determined it had been the subject of an attack. The company then referred the incident to Belgian prosecutors. Last week, Belgian Prime Minister Elio di Rupo spoke of a "violation of the public firm's integrity."

When news first emerged of the cyber attack, suspicions in Belgium were initially directed at the NSA. But the presentation suggests that it was Belgium's own European Union partner Britain that is behind "Operation Socialist," even though the presentation indicates that the British used spying technology for the operation that the NSA had developed.

NSA possibly involved in major Belgian telecom provider hack

Obama in Sweden:  “And I can give assurances to the publics in Europe and around the world that we’re not going around snooping at people’s emails or listening to their phone calls. 

NSA possibly involved in major Belgian telecom provider hack.(RT).

This weekend internet and telephone services provider Belgacom in Belgium revealed to have found traces of a digital intrusion in its internal IT system. Belgacom is a public company, of which the majority of shares is owned by the Belgian state.

"The inquiry has shown that the hacking was only possible by an intruder with significant financial and logistic means," they said. "This fact, combined with the technical complexity of the hacking and the scale on which it occurred, points towards international state-sponsored cyber espionage."
 
The company claims to have taken all appropriate actions to protect the integrity of its IT system and to further reinforce the prevention against possible incidents.

The newspaper 'De Standaard' however cites anonymous but reliable sources confirming that the National Security Agency was already monitoring all Belgacom international telephone traffic 'during at least two years'.

Belgacom has filed a complaint against an unknown third party and 'is granting its full support to the investigation that is being performed by the Federal Prosecutor'.

As to the perpetrators and their motives, the company states 'it is up to the Federal Prosecutor’s investigation to bring clarity on this'.

In the meantime the Belgian prime minister Elio Di Rupo also condemned the hack in an official press release, stating: "The Government takes notice that the technology used would indicate the high level involvement of another country."

"If this hypothesis is confirmed and the intrusion is indeed of a case of so-called cyber espionage, the government strongly condemns this intrusion and this breach of the integrity of the public company."

"In that case, the government will take the appropriate steps."

The hack takes an extra dimension as Brussels, the capital of Belgium, hosts the official seats of the European Commission and the European Parliament, but also the NATO headquarters and many lobby organizations. 

Hmmm.......Obama in Sweden:  “And I can give assurances to the publics in Europe and around the world that we’re not going around snooping at people’s emails or listening to their phone calls. What we try to do is to target very specifically areas of concern. Having said that, what I’ve said domestically and what I say to international audiences is with changes in technology, with the growth of our capabilities, if our — if our attitude is, because we can do it we should go ahead and do it, then we may not be, you know, addressing some of the legitimate concerns and dangers that exist anytime we’re talking about intelligence gathering and surveillance.”