"Domestic Spying" - Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US
Showing posts with label NSA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NSA. Show all posts
Monday, October 15, 2018
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Why NSA surveillance is worse than you've ever imagined
A few thoughts on this piece, which is a good one:
1. The so-called icon of democracy around the world, United States of America, spies on its citizens & non-citizens, around the world, in the name of "national security."
All the known dictatorships around the world; pretty much all of the Arab countries in Middle East (for example, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt), also strictly control their citizenry & spy on their citizenry in the name of "national security."
US usually berates China & Russia for abusing human rights, which includes, spying on their citizens. But government of those countries say that they are doing it in the name of "national security." See some similarities there?
2. We know how Chinese, Russian, & residents & citizens of dictatorial Middle Eastern countries are dealt with, by their own governments, after they are caught with their "dissident" thoughts. But what's surprising, which I learned from this opinion piece, is that NSA shares its data, collected on Palestinian-Americans, for example, with Israeli "NSA".
Palestinian-Americans must've come to America, thinking it's a democratic, free, & just country & they will be protected here. What they didn't know that they are not only being spied upon but the data collected on them are being shared with the country, which made them a refugee in the first place.
3. People in Western countries usually think that how do people who are living in dictatorships accept those dictatorial governments & live in those countries. Well, the question can be turned around for Americans now. How can Americans keep living in such a country where their own government doesn't trust them & spies on them & will keep spying (regardless of how much Senate & Congress allow NSA to be intrusive or not) for the foreseeable future?
The answer lies in the public's fatigue of being bombarded of NSA's spying & now it's more of an accepted situation by Americans that "it's ok to be spied upon by our government, " & "since, we can't really do anything about it, we might as well accept government's spying & live our own lives." It's safe to assume that that's exactly a Saudi Arabian, a Kuwaiti, a Bahraini, a Chinese, or a Russian thinks; "save my own skin & quietly live my own life, regardless of what my government does against me."
4. Role of media & journalism has become to work with whatever government lets them do. They are spreading news of NSA spying to create that fatigue in the Americans, to the point, that Americans & other people around the world are starting to tune these stories out now, & at the same time, those same media outlets are being selective about what news they publish. Anything new about NSA's spying capabilities is ignored & same stories of email & phone spying are repeated on end.
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... A PEW survey in March revealed that 52% of the public is now concerned about government surveillance, while 46% is not.
Given the vast amount of revelations about NSA abuses, it is somewhat surprising that just slightly more than a majority of Americans seem concerned about government surveillance. Which leads to the question of why? Is there any kind of revelation that might push the poll numbers heavily against the NSA’s spying programs? Has security fully trumped privacy as far as the American public is concerned? Or is there some program that would spark genuine public outrage?
Few people, for example, are aware that a NSA program known as TREASUREMAP is being developed to continuously map every Internet connection — cellphones, laptops, tablets — of everyone on the planet, including Americans.
“Map the entire Internet,” says the top secret NSA slide. “Any device, anywhere, all the time.” It adds that the program will allow “Computer Attack/Exploit Planning” as well as “Network Reconnaissance.”
One reason for the public’s lukewarm concern is what might be called NSA fatigue. There is now a sort of acceptance of highly intrusive surveillance as the new normal, the result of a bombardment of news stories on the topic.
I asked Snowden about this. “It does become the problem of one death is a tragedy & a million is a statistic,” he replied, “where today we have the violation of one person’s rights is a tragedy & the violation of a million is a statistic. The NSA is violating the rights of every American citizen every day on a comprehensive & ongoing basis. And that can numb us. That can leave us feeling disempowered, disenfranchised.”
In the same way, at the start of a war, the numbers of Americans killed are front-page stories, no matter how small. But 2 years into the conflict, the numbers, even if far greater, are usually buried deep inside a paper or far down a news site’s home page.
In addition, stories about NSA surveillance face the added burden of being technically complex, involving eye-glazing descriptions of sophisticated interception techniques & analytical capabilities. Though they may affect virtually every American, such as the telephone metadata program, because of the enormous secrecy involved, it is difficult to identify specific victims.
The way the surveillance story appeared also decreased its potential impact. Those given custody of the documents decided to spread the wealth for a more democratic assessment of the revelations. They distributed them through a wide variety of media — from start-up Web publications to leading foreign newspapers.
One document from the NSA director, for example, indicates that the agency was spying on visits to porn sites by people, making no distinction between foreigners & “U.S. persons,” US citizens or permanent residents. He then recommended using that information to secretly discredit them, whom he labeled as “radicalizers.” But because this was revealed by The Huffington Post, an online publication viewed as progressive, & was never reported by mainstream papers such as the New York Times or the Washington Post, the revelation never received the attention it deserved.
Another major revelation, a top-secret NSA map showing that the agency had planted malware — computer viruses — in more than 50,000 locations around the world, including many friendly countries such as Brazil, was reported in a relatively small Dutch newspaper, NRC Handelsblad, & likely never seen by much of the American public.
Thus, despite the volume of revelations, much of the public remains largely unaware of the true extent of the NSA’s vast, highly aggressive & legally questionable surveillance activities. With only a slim majority of Americans expressing concern, the chances of truly reforming the system become greatly decreased.
While the metadata program has become widely known because of the numerous court cases & litigation surrounding it, there are other NSA surveillance programs that may have far greater impact on Americans, but have attracted far less public attention.
In my interview with Snowden, for example, he said one of his most shocking discoveries was the NSA’s policy of secretly & routinely passing to Israel’s Unit 8200 — that country’s NSA — & possibly other countries not just metadata but the actual contents of emails involving Americans. This even included the names of U.S. citizens, some of whom were likely Palestinian-Americans communicating with relatives in Israel & Palestine.
An illustration of the dangers posed by such an operation comes from the sudden resignation last year of 43 veterans of Unit 8200, many of whom are still serving in the military reserves. The veterans accused the organization of using intercepted communication against innocent Palestinians for “political persecution.” This included information gathered from the emails about Palestinians’ sexual orientations, infidelities, money problems, family medical conditions & other private matters to coerce people into becoming collaborators or to create divisions in their society.
Another issue few Americans are aware of is the NSA’s secret email metadata collection program that took place for a decade or so until it ended several years ago. Every time an American sent or received an email, a record was secretly kept by the NSA, just as the agency continues to do with the telephone metadata program. Though the email program ended, all that private information is still stored at the NSA, with no end in sight.
With NSA fatigue setting in, & the American public unaware of many of the agency’s long list of abuses, it is little wonder that only slightly more than half the public is concerned about losing their privacy. For that reason, I agree with Frederick A. O. Schwartz Jr., the former chief counsel of the Church Committee, which conducted a yearlong probe into intelligence abuses in the mid-1970s, that we need a similarly thorough, hard-hitting investigation today.
“Now it is time for a new committee to examine our secret government closely again,” he wrote in a recent Nation magazine article, “particularly for its actions in the post-9/11 period.”
Until the public fully grasps & understands how far over the line the NSA has gone in the past — legally, morally & ethically — there should be no renewal or continuation of NSA’s telephone metadata program in the future.
1. The so-called icon of democracy around the world, United States of America, spies on its citizens & non-citizens, around the world, in the name of "national security."
All the known dictatorships around the world; pretty much all of the Arab countries in Middle East (for example, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt), also strictly control their citizenry & spy on their citizenry in the name of "national security."
US usually berates China & Russia for abusing human rights, which includes, spying on their citizens. But government of those countries say that they are doing it in the name of "national security." See some similarities there?
2. We know how Chinese, Russian, & residents & citizens of dictatorial Middle Eastern countries are dealt with, by their own governments, after they are caught with their "dissident" thoughts. But what's surprising, which I learned from this opinion piece, is that NSA shares its data, collected on Palestinian-Americans, for example, with Israeli "NSA".
Palestinian-Americans must've come to America, thinking it's a democratic, free, & just country & they will be protected here. What they didn't know that they are not only being spied upon but the data collected on them are being shared with the country, which made them a refugee in the first place.
3. People in Western countries usually think that how do people who are living in dictatorships accept those dictatorial governments & live in those countries. Well, the question can be turned around for Americans now. How can Americans keep living in such a country where their own government doesn't trust them & spies on them & will keep spying (regardless of how much Senate & Congress allow NSA to be intrusive or not) for the foreseeable future?
The answer lies in the public's fatigue of being bombarded of NSA's spying & now it's more of an accepted situation by Americans that "it's ok to be spied upon by our government, " & "since, we can't really do anything about it, we might as well accept government's spying & live our own lives." It's safe to assume that that's exactly a Saudi Arabian, a Kuwaiti, a Bahraini, a Chinese, or a Russian thinks; "save my own skin & quietly live my own life, regardless of what my government does against me."
4. Role of media & journalism has become to work with whatever government lets them do. They are spreading news of NSA spying to create that fatigue in the Americans, to the point, that Americans & other people around the world are starting to tune these stories out now, & at the same time, those same media outlets are being selective about what news they publish. Anything new about NSA's spying capabilities is ignored & same stories of email & phone spying are repeated on end.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
... A PEW survey in March revealed that 52% of the public is now concerned about government surveillance, while 46% is not.
Given the vast amount of revelations about NSA abuses, it is somewhat surprising that just slightly more than a majority of Americans seem concerned about government surveillance. Which leads to the question of why? Is there any kind of revelation that might push the poll numbers heavily against the NSA’s spying programs? Has security fully trumped privacy as far as the American public is concerned? Or is there some program that would spark genuine public outrage?
Few people, for example, are aware that a NSA program known as TREASUREMAP is being developed to continuously map every Internet connection — cellphones, laptops, tablets — of everyone on the planet, including Americans.
“Map the entire Internet,” says the top secret NSA slide. “Any device, anywhere, all the time.” It adds that the program will allow “Computer Attack/Exploit Planning” as well as “Network Reconnaissance.”
One reason for the public’s lukewarm concern is what might be called NSA fatigue. There is now a sort of acceptance of highly intrusive surveillance as the new normal, the result of a bombardment of news stories on the topic.
I asked Snowden about this. “It does become the problem of one death is a tragedy & a million is a statistic,” he replied, “where today we have the violation of one person’s rights is a tragedy & the violation of a million is a statistic. The NSA is violating the rights of every American citizen every day on a comprehensive & ongoing basis. And that can numb us. That can leave us feeling disempowered, disenfranchised.”
In the same way, at the start of a war, the numbers of Americans killed are front-page stories, no matter how small. But 2 years into the conflict, the numbers, even if far greater, are usually buried deep inside a paper or far down a news site’s home page.
In addition, stories about NSA surveillance face the added burden of being technically complex, involving eye-glazing descriptions of sophisticated interception techniques & analytical capabilities. Though they may affect virtually every American, such as the telephone metadata program, because of the enormous secrecy involved, it is difficult to identify specific victims.
The way the surveillance story appeared also decreased its potential impact. Those given custody of the documents decided to spread the wealth for a more democratic assessment of the revelations. They distributed them through a wide variety of media — from start-up Web publications to leading foreign newspapers.
One document from the NSA director, for example, indicates that the agency was spying on visits to porn sites by people, making no distinction between foreigners & “U.S. persons,” US citizens or permanent residents. He then recommended using that information to secretly discredit them, whom he labeled as “radicalizers.” But because this was revealed by The Huffington Post, an online publication viewed as progressive, & was never reported by mainstream papers such as the New York Times or the Washington Post, the revelation never received the attention it deserved.
Another major revelation, a top-secret NSA map showing that the agency had planted malware — computer viruses — in more than 50,000 locations around the world, including many friendly countries such as Brazil, was reported in a relatively small Dutch newspaper, NRC Handelsblad, & likely never seen by much of the American public.
Thus, despite the volume of revelations, much of the public remains largely unaware of the true extent of the NSA’s vast, highly aggressive & legally questionable surveillance activities. With only a slim majority of Americans expressing concern, the chances of truly reforming the system become greatly decreased.
While the metadata program has become widely known because of the numerous court cases & litigation surrounding it, there are other NSA surveillance programs that may have far greater impact on Americans, but have attracted far less public attention.
In my interview with Snowden, for example, he said one of his most shocking discoveries was the NSA’s policy of secretly & routinely passing to Israel’s Unit 8200 — that country’s NSA — & possibly other countries not just metadata but the actual contents of emails involving Americans. This even included the names of U.S. citizens, some of whom were likely Palestinian-Americans communicating with relatives in Israel & Palestine.
An illustration of the dangers posed by such an operation comes from the sudden resignation last year of 43 veterans of Unit 8200, many of whom are still serving in the military reserves. The veterans accused the organization of using intercepted communication against innocent Palestinians for “political persecution.” This included information gathered from the emails about Palestinians’ sexual orientations, infidelities, money problems, family medical conditions & other private matters to coerce people into becoming collaborators or to create divisions in their society.
Another issue few Americans are aware of is the NSA’s secret email metadata collection program that took place for a decade or so until it ended several years ago. Every time an American sent or received an email, a record was secretly kept by the NSA, just as the agency continues to do with the telephone metadata program. Though the email program ended, all that private information is still stored at the NSA, with no end in sight.
With NSA fatigue setting in, & the American public unaware of many of the agency’s long list of abuses, it is little wonder that only slightly more than half the public is concerned about losing their privacy. For that reason, I agree with Frederick A. O. Schwartz Jr., the former chief counsel of the Church Committee, which conducted a yearlong probe into intelligence abuses in the mid-1970s, that we need a similarly thorough, hard-hitting investigation today.
“Now it is time for a new committee to examine our secret government closely again,” he wrote in a recent Nation magazine article, “particularly for its actions in the post-9/11 period.”
Until the public fully grasps & understands how far over the line the NSA has gone in the past — legally, morally & ethically — there should be no renewal or continuation of NSA’s telephone metadata program in the future.
Friday, May 8, 2015
NSA's plan: improve cybersecurity by cyber-attacking everyone else
I can do whatever I want to do to you, & if I even hear a peep out of you, then you will be branded as a terrorist for life. Sounds like modus operandi of a bully.
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The National Security Agency wants to be able to hack more people, vacuum up even more of your internet records & have the keys to tech companies’ encryption – &, after 18 months of embarrassing inaction from Congress on surveillance reform, the NSA is now lobbying it for more powers, not less.
NSA director Mike Rogers testified in front of a Senate committee ..., lamenting that the poor ol’ NSA just doesn’t have the “cyber-offensive” capabilities (read: the ability to hack people) it needs to adequately defend the US. How cyber-attacking countries will help cyber-defense is anybody’s guess, but the idea that the NSA is somehow hamstrung is absurd.
The NSA runs sophisticated hacking operations all over the world. A Washington Post report showed that the NSA carried out 231 “offensive” operations in 2011 - & that number has surely grown since then. That report also revealed that the NSA runs a $652m project that has infected tens of thousands of computers with malware.
And that was 4 years ago - it’s likely increased significantly. A leaked presidential directive issued in 2012 called for an expanded list of hacking targets all over the world. The NSA spends ten of millions of dollars per year to procure “‘software vulnerabilities’ from private malware vendors” – i.e., holes in software that will make their hacking much easier. The NSA has even created a system, according to Edward Snowden, that can automatically hack computers overseas that attempt to hack systems in the US.
Moving further in this direction, Rogers has also called for another new law that would force tech companies to install backdoors into all their encryption. The move has provoked condemnation & scorn from the entire security community - including a very public upbraiding by Yahoo’s top security executive - as it would be a disaster for the very cybersecurity that the director says is a top priority.
And then there is the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) the downright awful “cybersecurity” bill passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee ... in complete secrecy that is little more than an excuse to conduct more surveillance. The bill will do little to stop cyberattacks, but it will do a lot to give the NSA even more power to collect Americans’ communications from tech companies without any legal process whatsoever. The bill’s text was finally released a couple days ago, &, as EFF points out, tucked in the bill were the powers to do the exact type of “offensive” attacks for which Rogers is pining.
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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/21/nsa-plan-improve-cybersecurity-hacking-everyone
The National Security Agency wants to be able to hack more people, vacuum up even more of your internet records & have the keys to tech companies’ encryption – &, after 18 months of embarrassing inaction from Congress on surveillance reform, the NSA is now lobbying it for more powers, not less.
NSA director Mike Rogers testified in front of a Senate committee ..., lamenting that the poor ol’ NSA just doesn’t have the “cyber-offensive” capabilities (read: the ability to hack people) it needs to adequately defend the US. How cyber-attacking countries will help cyber-defense is anybody’s guess, but the idea that the NSA is somehow hamstrung is absurd.
The NSA runs sophisticated hacking operations all over the world. A Washington Post report showed that the NSA carried out 231 “offensive” operations in 2011 - & that number has surely grown since then. That report also revealed that the NSA runs a $652m project that has infected tens of thousands of computers with malware.
And that was 4 years ago - it’s likely increased significantly. A leaked presidential directive issued in 2012 called for an expanded list of hacking targets all over the world. The NSA spends ten of millions of dollars per year to procure “‘software vulnerabilities’ from private malware vendors” – i.e., holes in software that will make their hacking much easier. The NSA has even created a system, according to Edward Snowden, that can automatically hack computers overseas that attempt to hack systems in the US.
Moving further in this direction, Rogers has also called for another new law that would force tech companies to install backdoors into all their encryption. The move has provoked condemnation & scorn from the entire security community - including a very public upbraiding by Yahoo’s top security executive - as it would be a disaster for the very cybersecurity that the director says is a top priority.
And then there is the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) the downright awful “cybersecurity” bill passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee ... in complete secrecy that is little more than an excuse to conduct more surveillance. The bill will do little to stop cyberattacks, but it will do a lot to give the NSA even more power to collect Americans’ communications from tech companies without any legal process whatsoever. The bill’s text was finally released a couple days ago, &, as EFF points out, tucked in the bill were the powers to do the exact type of “offensive” attacks for which Rogers is pining.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
US & UK spies hacked SIM card manufacturer to steal codes
Another example of North American & European hypocrisy. Spying is all good & necessary exercise, as long as, countries from North America & Europe (US' & UK's allies) are doing it but forbidden, when a country like, e.g. North Korea or Iran, does it.
Providing beautiful names to immoral, illegal, & unethical practices is the hobby of North American & European countries. Heck, they don't stop there, they just make the illegal activity legal through the judicial & parliamentary process & then claim, our activities are all legal. Hey, slavery was legal, too, at one time. Does it mean that slavery is an activity that all countries should actively engage in?
When a kid in the school yard punches another kid & he is also the one who threw the first punch, that kid is punished for unnecessarily punching the other kid & is labelled a "bully". So what then do you call the leaders of US, UK, & their allies, who engage in these activities?
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British & American spies reportedly stole confidential codes from Dutch SIM card manufacturer to eavesdrop on mobile phones around the world, an intelligence leak has revealed.
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden gave leaked files to The Intercept detailing how the American agency & its British counterparts GCHQ stole encryption keys that keep mobile communications private.
The company targeted was Gemalto who produce billions of electronic chips for mobile phones & next generation credit cards.
It operates in 85 countries & its SIM cards cover more than 1.5 billion mobile users globally for clients such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon & Sprint.
The hacks are thought to have taken place in 2010 & 2011 & led to the theft of 300,000 keys from Somalia, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, India, Serbia, Iceland & Tajikistan.
With these encryption keys, the intelligence agencies would have the ability to collect both voice & data information - such as text messages - from a large portion of the world's communications.
The keys are used to decipher the communications between mobile phones & their network providers which would otherwise be received as a 'garbled mess'.
Stealing them also sidesteps the need to get permission from telecom companies or a warrant for a wire-tap - & it leaves no trace on the wireless provider's network that communications have been hacked into.
The Intercept claims GCHQ planted malicious software on several of Gemalto's computers to gain access to its internal network in order to obtain these keys.
It also received slides from GCHQ in which the author boasted: 'Successfully implanted several machines & believe we have their entire network.'
A document from the NSA revealed the US agency could process between 12 & 22 million keys by 2009, which could later be used to spy on targets. It predicted that more than 50 million keys could be accessed every second in the future.
The GCHQ's operation to target Gemalto was called 'Dapino Gamma' & in 2011, it launched an attempt to harvest the email accounts of Gemalto employees in France & Poland.
A top-secret document said one of the aims of the operation was 'getting into French HQ' of Gemalto - one of its global headquarters - 'to get into core data repositories'.
Another GCHQ document from May 2011 indicated it was in the process of 'targeting' more than a dozen Gemalto facilities across the globe including in Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Spain, Japan & Singapore.
The file also suggested GCHQ was preparing similar key theft operations against one of Gemalto's competitors - German SIM card giants Giesecke & Devrient.
It also penetrated 'authentication servers' which allow it to decrypt data & voice communications between a target's mobile phone & the connection it makes with its network provider.
An accompanying slide read: 'Very happy with the data so far & working through the vast quantity of product.'
Gemalto was unaware of the hack & the spying on its employees according to its executive vice president Paul Beverly.
A spokesperson from GCHQ said it does not comment on intelligence matters, but added: 'All of GCHQ's work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal & policy framework, which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary & proportionate, & that there is rigorous oversight, including from the Secretary of State, the Interception & Intelligence Services Commissioners & the parliamentary Intelligence & Security Committee.
'All our operational processes rigorously support this position. In addition, the UK's interception regime is entirely compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.'
Providing beautiful names to immoral, illegal, & unethical practices is the hobby of North American & European countries. Heck, they don't stop there, they just make the illegal activity legal through the judicial & parliamentary process & then claim, our activities are all legal. Hey, slavery was legal, too, at one time. Does it mean that slavery is an activity that all countries should actively engage in?
When a kid in the school yard punches another kid & he is also the one who threw the first punch, that kid is punished for unnecessarily punching the other kid & is labelled a "bully". So what then do you call the leaders of US, UK, & their allies, who engage in these activities?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
British & American spies reportedly stole confidential codes from Dutch SIM card manufacturer to eavesdrop on mobile phones around the world, an intelligence leak has revealed.
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden gave leaked files to The Intercept detailing how the American agency & its British counterparts GCHQ stole encryption keys that keep mobile communications private.
The company targeted was Gemalto who produce billions of electronic chips for mobile phones & next generation credit cards.
It operates in 85 countries & its SIM cards cover more than 1.5 billion mobile users globally for clients such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon & Sprint.
The hacks are thought to have taken place in 2010 & 2011 & led to the theft of 300,000 keys from Somalia, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, India, Serbia, Iceland & Tajikistan.
With these encryption keys, the intelligence agencies would have the ability to collect both voice & data information - such as text messages - from a large portion of the world's communications.
The keys are used to decipher the communications between mobile phones & their network providers which would otherwise be received as a 'garbled mess'.
Stealing them also sidesteps the need to get permission from telecom companies or a warrant for a wire-tap - & it leaves no trace on the wireless provider's network that communications have been hacked into.
The Intercept claims GCHQ planted malicious software on several of Gemalto's computers to gain access to its internal network in order to obtain these keys.
It also received slides from GCHQ in which the author boasted: 'Successfully implanted several machines & believe we have their entire network.'
A document from the NSA revealed the US agency could process between 12 & 22 million keys by 2009, which could later be used to spy on targets. It predicted that more than 50 million keys could be accessed every second in the future.
The GCHQ's operation to target Gemalto was called 'Dapino Gamma' & in 2011, it launched an attempt to harvest the email accounts of Gemalto employees in France & Poland.
A top-secret document said one of the aims of the operation was 'getting into French HQ' of Gemalto - one of its global headquarters - 'to get into core data repositories'.
Another GCHQ document from May 2011 indicated it was in the process of 'targeting' more than a dozen Gemalto facilities across the globe including in Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Spain, Japan & Singapore.
The file also suggested GCHQ was preparing similar key theft operations against one of Gemalto's competitors - German SIM card giants Giesecke & Devrient.
It also penetrated 'authentication servers' which allow it to decrypt data & voice communications between a target's mobile phone & the connection it makes with its network provider.
An accompanying slide read: 'Very happy with the data so far & working through the vast quantity of product.'
Gemalto was unaware of the hack & the spying on its employees according to its executive vice president Paul Beverly.
A spokesperson from GCHQ said it does not comment on intelligence matters, but added: 'All of GCHQ's work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal & policy framework, which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary & proportionate, & that there is rigorous oversight, including from the Secretary of State, the Interception & Intelligence Services Commissioners & the parliamentary Intelligence & Security Committee.
'All our operational processes rigorously support this position. In addition, the UK's interception regime is entirely compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.'
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