Category Archives: GCHQ

Iraq war whistleblower’s trial ‘was halted due to national security threat’

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Ahead of a new film about Katharine Gun, the director of public prosecutions explains for the first time why he felt a court case would be too risky

She was the whistleblower who risked her freedom to try to prevent war. By leaking to the Observer details of a secret American dirty tricks campaign to spy on the UN before the invasion of Iraq, Katharine Gun hoped she could stir the public’s conscience, ratcheting up political pressure to the point that conflict could be avoided.

It was not, and Gun, then a 28-year-old working for GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham, was later charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act. The case against her, however, was abruptly and mysteriously dropped.

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‘Five Eyes’ nations discuss backdoor access to WhatsApp

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Countries focus on increasingly effective encryption of communications

British, American and other intelligence agencies from English-speaking countries have concluded a two-day meeting in London amid calls for spies and police officers to be given special, backdoor access to WhatsApp and other encrypted communications.

The meeting of the “Five Eyes” nations – the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – was hosted by new home secretary, Priti Patel, in an effort to coordinate efforts to combat terrorism and child abuse.

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UK agencies played key role in Italian mistaken identity case

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Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe wrongly arrested based on tipoffs from NCA and GCHQ

The acquittal of Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe by an Italian court of being a human trafficking kingpin is a major embarrassment for Britain’s National Crime Agency and the GCHQ intelligence service.

Berhe’s arrest in 2016 was trumpeted as a major coup in the battle against international people-smuggling, but unbeknown to them at the time, the Italian and British authorities had mistaken the Eritrean for one of the world’s most-wanted human traffickers, Medhanie Yehdego Mered, aka the General.

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Huawei must raise ‘shoddy’ standards, says senior UK cybersecurity official

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GCHQ technical director says he hasn’t seen anything that reassures him company is taking necessary security steps

China’s Huawei Technologies needs to raise its “shoddy” security standards which fall below rivals, a senior British cyber security official said on Thursday, as the company came under increasing pressure internationally.

The US has led allegations that Huawei’s equipment can be used by Beijing for espionage operations, with Washington urging allies to bar the company from 5G networks.

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Apple and WhatsApp condemn GCHQ plans to eavesdrop on encrypted chats

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GCHQ ‘ghost protocol’ would seriously undermine user security and trust, says letter

A GCHQ proposal that would enable eavesdropping on encrypted chat services has been condemned as a “serious threat” to digital security and human rights.

In an open letter signed by more than 50 companies, civil society organisations and security experts – including Apple, WhatsApp, Liberty and Privacy International – GCHQ was called on to abandon its so-called “ghost protocol”, and instead focus on “protecting privacy rights, cybersecurity, public confidence, and transparency”.

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