NSA Spying: Some German officials now use disposable phones over eavesdropping fears

The so-called "burner" phones have been used not only in countries such as Russia and China, which continue to be at loggerheads with the West over a number of issues, including the Ukraine conflict - but also during visits to close allies such as the Britain and the United States, "Der Spiegel" news magazine reported on Saturday.

The magazine said politicians had been advised by Germany's Federal Office for Information Security to use disposable phones and only download essential data on it.

"There are clear signals that people are getting more sensible," the report quoted one security source as saying.

For years, security agencies have warned their leaders of the dangers of mobile phones and eavesdropping. During their visits abroad, officials run a particularly high risk when leaving phones unattended in order to hold secret talks as this opens a window of opportunity for spy agencies to manipulate the phones or even upload surveillance programs.

Following a year of revelations that the US National Security Agency had allegedly been listening on phones belonging to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other key German politicians, these fears have become a reality for Germany. A WikiLeaks report published last week suggested that NSA spying had gone on for much longer than previously thought.

Despite the advice from Germany's security authorities the "burners" have not been introduced universally across the cabinet. Both Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel reportedly went on their recent respective trips to Cuba and China with their normal phones.

 Read more: German officials use disposable phones over eavesdropping fears | News | DW.COM | 18.07.2015

Germany - EU Privacy Protection Laws: 'I expect Merkel's actions to follow her words'- needs to support European data law reform

DW Question to Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht: "John Kerry said during his visit to Berlin, "Let's turn a page and open a new chapter." He has had enough of the NSA spying scandal and the ensuing diplomatic difficulties - with Germany in particular. But Angela Merkel now said in her weekly podcast that she wants to promote a European communications network. That's seen as a direct reaction to the NSA spying allegations. How useful is this proposal?"
 
Data Law Reform, EU, EU Commission, EU Parliament, Germany, NSA Spying, Jan Philipp Albrecht:" I think it's a good sign that we see movement towards a European initiative to better protect our data and the information infrastructure in Europe. Yes, we need that. But on the other hand, it's also clear that we cannot just build borders which would give us some sort of a German or a Schengen zone internet. Instead, we need to have a legal framework which secures our fundamental rights in the European market."

"We need to implement the European data protection reform. Angela Merkel has called that a priority. Now she should follow through with it. It's not just about investing in infrastructure - even though that's a good first step in giving Europeans a choice, so they can choose a European data processer instead of a US firm."

DW: "Even if we did have European data processers - what would that change? Whistleblower Edward Snowden has said, "It doesn't matter where your servers are. The NSA will go where the data is."

Jan Philipp Albrecht: "That's true. We can't just cut the cables. People do want to communicate, and we don't want to stop them. But that's why we need better data protection in terms of services. It has to be made clear that if somebody offers services to European citizens and consumers, these services need to comply with the rules of our market: data security and protection, better encryption, and more control for users. That's what Angela Merkel should safeguard."

Read more: 'I expect Merkel's actions to follow her words' | Europe | DW.DE | 17.02.2014

NSA Spying on Europeans: Specter of US spying looms large in Germany

NSA is always present

When the German version of the FBI needs to share sensitive information these days, it types it up and has it hand-delivered.

This time last year, it would have trusted in the security of email. But last year was before Edward Snowden and the public revelations of the scope of the National Security Agency's PRISM electronic intelligence-gathering program. After Snowden, or post-PRISM, is a new digital world.

"We're now carrying our information to our allies on foot," said Peter Henzler, the vice president of the Bundeskriminalamt, known as the BKA. He was speaking recently at a German Interior Ministry panel on the country's digital future. The focus of the panel was how to counter U.S. surveillance measures and what it will take for Germans to be safe again on the Web. "We're no longer using the open Internet."

The message is clear: The United States no longer can be trusted not to spy on any and every facet of German life and policy. Henzler's concerns might sound extreme, but he was hardly alone on his panel, and the worries appear to be an accurate reflection of the wider German, and even European, concern about the reach of the NSA's surveillance program.

Hardly a week passes here without some new revelation about the dastardly depths to which the American spy program invaded German privacy, or at least a new way in which to react to the scandal.

Last week, for instance, the news broke that the United States had tapped the cellphone of Gerhard Schroeder when he was the German chancellor from 1998 to 2005. Given that it's been four months since news broke that the same American surveillance program was tapping the cellphone of the current chancellor, Angela Merkel, and had been tapping her phone for several years before she was chancellor, the revelation could hardly have been surprising.

Merkel, after all, was seen as an American ally. Schroeder, who sharply criticized U.S. intentions and efforts in Iraq and was visibly uncomfortable in the presence of then-President George W. Bush, was seen as something less than an American booster.

But there are many more examples, beyond the news stories: Thirty-two percent of Germans tell pollsters they've either left or reduced their time on Facebook for fear of spying. German television ads note the peace of mind and freedom that come with email that doesn't leave European servers. Providers very publicly say that they now encrypt all email. Anti-surveillance NSA protests are common in Berlin.

Such thoughts aren't limited to Germany. A $900 million French deal with the United Arab Emirates for two new intelligence satellites appears to be in doubt after the buyers noticed U.S. components in the French satellites that they feared could compromise their data.

Florian Glatzner, a policy officer with the German Federal Consumer Protection Agency, said they were fielding a lot of consumer questions about how to ensure that their communications and data were safe from the electronic spying of the NSA.

"A lot of the trust in the big Internet companies is gone," he said. "And most of the big Internet companies were based in the United States."

Read more at msn news

NSA turns "Get Smart" TV comedy into a reality show - Catalog Reveals NSA Has Back Doors for Numerous Devices - by Jacob Appelbaum, Judith Horchert and Christian Stöcker

When it comes to modern firewalls for corporate computer networks, the world's second largest network equipment manufacturer doesn't skimp on praising its own work. According to Juniper Networks' online PR copy, the company's products are "ideal" for protecting large companies and computing centers from unwanted access from outside. They claim the performance of the company's special computers is "unmatched" and their firewalls are the "best-in-class." Despite these assurances, though, there is one attacker none of these products can fend off -- the United States' National Security Agency.

Specialists at the intelligence organization succeeded years ago in penetrating the company's digital firewalls.

A document viewed by SPIEGEL resembling a product catalog reveals that an NSA division called ANT has burrowed its way into nearly all the security architecture made by the major players in the industry -- including American global market leader Cisco and its Chinese competitor Huawei, but also producers of mass-market goods, such as US computer-maker Dell.

These NSA agents, who specialize in secret back doors, are able to keep an eye on all levels of our digital lives -- from computing centers to individual computers, and from laptops to mobile phones. For nearly every lock, ANT seems to have a key in its toolbox. And no matter what walls companies erect, the NSA's specialists seem already to have gotten past them.

This, at least, is the impression gained from flipping through the 50-page document. The list reads like a mail-order catalog, one from which other NSA employees can order technologies from the ANT division for tapping their targets' data. The catalog even lists the prices for these electronic break-in tools, with costs ranging from free to $250,000.

In the case of Juniper, the name of this particular digital lock pick is "FEEDTROUGH." This malware burrows into Juniper firewalls and makes it possible to smuggle other NSA programs into mainframe computers. Thanks to FEEDTROUGH, these implants can, by design, even survive "across reboots and software upgrades." In this way, US government spies can secure themselves a permanent presence in computer networks. The catalog states that FEEDTROUGH "has been deployed on many target platforms."

The ANT division doesn't just manufacture surveillance hardware. It also develops software for special tasks. The ANT developers have a clear preference for planting their malicious code in so-called BIOS, software located on a computer's motherboard that is the first thing to load when a computer is turned on.

Another program attacks the firmware in hard drives manufactured by Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor and Samsung, all of which, with the exception of the latter, are American companies. Here, too, it appears the US intelligence agency is compromising the technology and products of American companies.

Other ANT programs target Internet routers meant for professional use or hardware firewalls intended to protect company networks from online attacks. Many digital attack weapons are "remotely installable" -- in other words, over the Internet. Others require a direct attack on an end-user device -- an "interdiction," as it is known in NSA jargon -- in order to install malware or bugging equipment.

Note EU-Digest : NSA turns "Get Smart" TV comedy into a reality show. Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry,^[1] the show stars Don Adams (as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86), Barbara Feldon (as Agent 99), and Edward Platt (as Chief). Henry said they created the show by request of Daniel Melnick, who was a partner, along with Leonard Stern and David Susskind, of the show's production company, Talent Associates, to capitalize on "the two biggest things in the entertainment world today"—James Bond and Inspector Clouseau.^[2] Brooks said: "It's an insane combination of James Bond and Mel Brooks comedy."

Read more: Catalog Reveals NSA Has Back Doors for Numerous Devices - SPIEGEL ONLINE

Europe’s reaction to NSA spying ‘totally inadequate, no action, nothing more than words’

EU reaction to NSA spying inadequate

So far European governments reactions to the people’s anger about NSA spying on European Citizens has been totally inadequate, says Paul Murphy, Irish Member of the European Parliament from the Socialist Party in an interview with Russian TV station RT. He says this mainly is the result of the fact that most governments have put a lid on it, as the interests of big businesses prevails.

"What it illustrates", said Murphy,  "is the deep-rooted hypocrisy of the leaders of all countries of Europe and really around the world. Whereby they are happy to criticize other people spying on themselves, but they are all engaged in this, all of the major powers in the world are engaged in massive spying against each other. But also most importantly, states are involved in spying against their own people and other peoples around the world. I think what should come out from ordinary people across Europe is a clear message that we are opposed to the building of a security state, which is what’s happening, we are opposed to this massive surveillance of people and of elective representatives, and we demand people’s right to privacy".

"I think the response of the EU has been entirely inadequate", says Murphy, "and it’s being words and nothing more than words, while they continue, for example, with the negotiations on the EU-US free-trade agreement. I think it’s because they know the whole thing is full of hypocrisy and they know they are guilty probably as much as their technical capacities allows relative to the US. And I think it’s only through developing a movement and big pressure from below that the most important issue here – people’s, individuals’ rights of privacy, individual rights not to be spied upon, that that can prevail and can become a factor in the situation"

Basically the EU Commission and the EU parliament are sitting on their hands when it comes to properly handling the NSA spying affair on EU Citizens. It is  another example of why the confidence in the political establishment of the Europe Union has reached an all-time low.

EU-Digest