Beginning in 2004 and continuing for nearly a year, more than a hundred Athens cell phone users were wiretapped by a program secreted in Vodafone’s Athens call centers. Testifying before a parliamentary committee, Vodafone chief George Koronias told members of parliament that the eavesdropping “required an organisation that combined advanced technology and ample financial means … such know-how does not exist in Greece.”
Koronias didn’t speculate on the identity of the sophisticated and well-financed organization, but he did mention that the cells hijacked by the software serviced an area that included the US embassy. A BBC story on the case says the eavesdropping targeted “top politicians, security and military personnel, journalists and Arabs living in Greece.”
Sounds like a case of “If you’re not with us, you’re against us, and even if you’re with us we’re not taking any chances.”
It’s unlikely the surveillance would have violated any US laws, not that that’s an issue.
The story, which even includes the questionable suicide of a senior Vodafone network manager the day before Vodafone notified the Greek government of the hack, has received intense coverage in Europe; not so much here.
Greek cellular provider Vodafone victimized by Trojan horse
Beginning in 2004 and continuing for nearly a year, more than a hundred Athens cell phone users were wiretapped by a program secreted in Vodafone’s Athens call centers. Testifying before a parliamentary committee, Vodafone chief George Koronias told members of parliament that the eavesdropping “required an organisation that combined advanced technology and ample financial means … such know-how does not exist in Greece.”
Koronias didn’t speculate on the identity of the sophisticated and well-financed organization, but he did mention that the cells hijacked by the software serviced an area that included the US embassy. A BBC story on the case says the eavesdropping targeted “top politicians, security and military personnel, journalists and Arabs living in Greece.”
Sounds like a case of “If you’re not with us, you’re against us, and even if you’re with us we’re not taking any chances.”
It’s unlikely the surveillance would have violated any US laws, not that that’s an issue.
The story, which even includes the questionable suicide of a senior Vodafone network manager the day before Vodafone notified the Greek government of the hack, has received intense coverage in Europe; not so much here.