SIM card provider Gemalto has admitted that the hacking operation by the NSA and GCHQ did happen between 2010 and 2011. According to the company, India was among the nine countries where mobile operators were targeted, along with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Serbia and Iran among others. The NSA (National Security Agency) is a US intelligence agency responsible for monitoring, collecting and analysing information for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes for the US government, while the GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) is a British intelligence agency responsible for the same, for the British government. Gemalto’s report also mentions that the interception technique did not work with operators using secure data exchange methods and in particular it “failed to produce results against Pakistani networks". However it says nothing of Indian operators. Gemalto goes on to explain that the intelligence services would only be able to spy on communications on second generation 2G mobile networks and that 3G and 4G networks are not vulnerable to this type of attack. The hacking of Gemalto’s internal network by American and British spies back in 2010-11 came to light just last week, after The Intercept published a piece based on documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The documents revealed the agencies stole encryption keys which could monitor mobile communications without seeking or receiving approval from telecom companies and governments. According to one secret GCHQ slide, the British intelligence agency penetrated Gemalto’s internal networks, planting malware on several computers, giving GCHQ secret access. Gemalto’s clients Its not clear which…
