100 mobile phones that belonged to the prime minister, politicians and important persons had been spied with software that had been legally installed in the headquarters of Vodafone Greece.
The spying had taken place for more than a year, it started before the beginning of the olympic games in Athens and kept on until a few days ago. There are many unsolved questions related to it, like the "suicide" of one of the highest members of the security team of vodafone. Although the company denies any relation between the two facts, reporters have found evidence and indications that are creating chaos in the media and in the system of justice. The case has been reopened and is being reinvestigated.
Initially there were rumours that the "Americans" were spying on the greek government. Now its quite obvious that this was the work of a small local team with limited technical knowledge and equipment compared to the American potential. The information though, could have been sold to secret agencies.
I am looking forward to what the results of the investigations will finally be. This proves to be a very interesting case related to electronic crime and fraud. A well-known greek IT professor claimed that other mobile phone networks and the internet, as well, are being spied. He is considered a genious in IT matters but he mysteriously stopped informing people about this case. He refuses to talk any further or show up on TV and the media talks about him being threatened.
This is not the first time that such a spying scandal bursts in Greece. There have been similar situations in the past.
Journalists claim that possibly an insider from vodafone co-operated with the spying team that set mobile-shadows throught Athens. What made everyone suspicious is the fact that it deleted the illegally activated software from its network making it impossible to track the spies. Some claim that the logs still exist but I guess time will show. Another surprising fact is that the company had found out about the spying more than 4 months ago but had not informed the victims. Also the government knew.
Questions... questions... questions...
5 comments:
Thats very true. But still. Being an ally does not necessarily mean that one needs to disclose or share all national secrets. We dont even share a common policy. I bet the USA never informs/asks us about THEIR secrets and political strategies.
BTW thx for stopping by my blog!
Thanks Zorba. Do list your fellow bloggers or/and the community, I would like to know about them.
For the record, I am a greek living in Greece ;), I just like to write in english. It makes it easier to communicate with the whole world.
I wonder if you are american or greek?
Hi Zorba!
:) Yes I have seen your blog! Your picture reminds me of an american-greek guy who was a politician at the time of Clinton. But I have forgotten his name!
I am very happy that you find my english good! I really love the english language. You are not the only one who complains about the clerks in public services :D in Greece LOL.
Thanks for the links, its quite exciting to get such recommendations. I dont have the patience and time to search in blogger otherwise. I ll visit them! :)
Good luck to you too!
(I will turn the comment moderation off. Seems the blog war is over...)
This reminds me of when cordless phones first became widespread in America, late 70's, early 80's. The first models could be picked up by anyone using scanners or broadcast just above the AM band (1,600-1,700 khz). It wasn't generally known, only the geeks caught on, but for a while, the owners of the cordless phones were completely unaware. The manufacturers started coming out with models that split each end of the conversation to two frequencies, or frequency hopping, or scrambling. Wonder what it's like today? A few years ago in Germany I tried and I could still get phone calls (on my American) scanner.
@indeterminacy: late 70ies.. I wasnt born yet but I have heard about using cordless phones to use the telephone line of a neibour. Its a fact that the cordless phone they used to sell here can connect to any base that belongs to another cordless phone, provided you are near enough.
@zorba: Oh thats who your avatar reminded me ;). Thanks and I am checking the links out!
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