British Spy Agency Is Behind Belgacom Hack, Snowden Leaks Show

By   ISBuzz Team
Writer , Information Security Buzz | Sep 20, 2013 04:49 am PST

Documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden show that the United Kingdom’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is responsible for the hack attack on Belgacom, Belgium’s largest telecommunications company.

Investigators have determined that the goal of the attack wasn’t to sabotage the organization, but to gather intelligence.

Belgian authorities haven’t officially named any suspects. However, they did attribute the attack to a state-sponsored entity. Shortly after, rumors started surfacing regarding the implication of the United States National Security Agency (NSA) or the GCHQ.

Now, German publication Der Spiegel reports that the GCHQ is responsible for the attack. The Snowden leaks show that the British spy agency was running an operation called Operation Socialist. The goal was to harvest information on Belgacom’s infrastructure and to “enable better exploitation” of the company.

SOURCE: news.softpedia.com

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