Greek cellular wiretapping scandal

[Alexander Philippou]

> From a non-technical perspective, at least one death may be 
> linked to the incident.  A communications expert who was working on the 
> switch apparently commited suicide, but this has been 
> questioned by some.

It was recently concluded that there was no foul play involved in his tragic
death. The arguments are convincing enough. However, it has not been
concluded yet if he was somehow involved in or had knowledge about the
wiretapping, and whether this might have been a factor in his suicide.

>             were in contact via phone calls and text messages with various
>             overseas destinations, namely the U.S., including Laurel, Md.,
the
<snip>
> Guess what's just to the east of Laurel, MD...  On the other 
> hand, exposing links like that is clumsy -- could it be 
> disinformation?

Yes, it might have been clumsy operation-wise. Clumsiness was involved in
last year's incident in Italy: "it was a trail of casual cellphone use that
tripped up the 19 purported CIA operatives wanted by Italian authorities in
the alleged kidnapping of a radical Muslim cleric".
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/28/cia.phonetrail.ap/. On the other
hand, no publicly available information has linked the locations of the
phones involved in the Greek wiretapping with foreign agencies. Various
opinions have been voiced on who might be behind this affair, but no
accusations have been made against the US or any other government.

>  And one of the phones monitored was from the 
> American embassy in Athens -- or is that the disinformation?  
> Or is NSA spying on the embassy?  You are in a maze of twisty 
> little spooks, all different.

"One telephone was listed to an inconspicuous Greek-American at the US
Embassy. Journalists learned the phone had been lent to the embassy's Greek
police security detail." http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060320/kiesling

> The attack was very sophisticated, and required a great deal 
> of arcane knowledge.  Whoever did it had detailed knowledge 
> of Ericsson switches, and probably a test lab with the proper 
> Ericsson gear.  It strongly suggests that Ericsson and/or 
> Vodafone insiders were involved -- my guess is both.  But who 
> did it, and why, remains obscure.

The investigation is still ongoing. It will be interesting to read the final
report.

Alexander Philippou


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