Ride the Lightning

U.K.'s GCHQ Admits to Widespread Hacking of Computers, Phones and Networks

December 10, 2015

SC Magazine reported this week that the UK's GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) has admitted for the first time that it has hacked computers, smartphones, and networks in the UK and abroad as part of a court case brought by Privacy International and seven ISPs. The plaintiffs allege that GCHQ's actions lack oversight and break both domestic laws and the Human Rights Act. Evidence showed GCHQ undertakes "persistent" hacking, leaving monitoring software on targeted devices. The legal case has confirmed the agency's usage of computer network exploitation (CNE) to capture mass data.

Telling the court that this gathers up far more information than traditional surveillance, Ben Jaffey, the lawyer for Privacy International and the ISPs, said it was "equal to carrying a bug everywhere I go."

“If CNE were carried out on my mobile you would get all the meetings I attend by turning on the microphone and access to all my chamber's files, bank details, my passwords, all my personal material and all my photos," said Jaffey.

GCHQ said it did not need individual warrants before hacking a target device – it said it primarily relies on "thematic" or "class" warrants which give permission to intercept communications from "a defined group or network". 

Denying its activities are unlawful, GCHQ claims that information it has gathered has stopped six alleged terrorist plots in 2015 alone. Giving evidence at the tribunal, GCHQ director general Ciaran Martin said the "advent of ubiquitous encryption" had made targeted hacking even more important for the spy agency.

"Indeed CNE may in some cases by the only way to acquire intelligence coverage of a terror suspect or serious criminal in a foreign country." Martin also added that GCHQ's activities help protect citizens and that "in the last two years, [GCHQ] has disclosed vulnerabilities in every major mobile and desktop platform".

As you might imagine, the NSA and the GCHQ are kissing cousins. Thus far, the outcry for privacy in the U.S. has exceeded that in the U.K. It will be interesting to see if our friends across the pond have any success in reining in the GCHQ. I am doubtful.

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