PARIS: Gemalto said on Friday it was investigating a report US and British spies had hacked its systems to steal the privacy-protecting encryption keys in the chips it makes for mobile phones.
Citing documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, the report said the hack allowed the agencies to monitor a large portion of voice and data mobile communications around the world without permission from governments and telecom companies.
Gemalto’s shares sank as much as 10 percent in huge volumes in early trading after the news website Intercept reported the hack by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
“We take this publication very seriously and will devote all resources necessary to fully investigate and understand the scope of such sophisticated techniques,” the company said in a statement.
The hack by the National Security Agency (NSA) and UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) allowed the agencies to monitor a large portion of voice and data mobile communications around the world without permission from governments and telecom companies, according to the report.
The breach was detailed in a secret 2010 GCHQ document, Intercept said. (http://bit.ly/19E0KUK)
Franco-Dutch company Gemalto makes smart chips for mobile phones, bank cards and biometric passports and counts Verizon , AT&T Inc. and Vodafone among its 450 wireless network provider customers around the world.
“If these attacks were to be confirmed and did allow access to various communications, it would be very damaging for Gemalto’s reputation,” a Paris-based trader said.
Gemalto officials declined further comment on Friday but in an e-mailed statement earlier a spokeswoman said: “From what we gathered at this moment, the target was not Gemalto, per se — it was an attempt to try and cast the widest net possible to reach as many mobile phones as possible.”
A spokesperson for Britain’s GCHQ said the agency did not comment on intelligence matters. NSA could not be immediately reached for comment.
Published by First Look Media, Intercept was founded by US documentary maker Laura Poitras, investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald, who made headlines with his reporting on US electronic surveillance programs.
Phone chipmaker Gemalto probes report of hacking by US, UK spies
Phone chipmaker Gemalto probes report of hacking by US, UK spies
‘Doomsday Clock’ moves closer to midnight over threats from nukes, climate change, AI
- At the end of the Cold War, the clock was as close as 17 minutes to midnight. In the past few years, to address rapid global changes, the group has changed from counting down the minutes until midnight to counting down the seconds
WASHINGTON: Earth is closer than it’s ever been to destruction as Russia, China, the US and other countries become “increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic,” a science-oriented advocacy group said Tuesday as it advanced its “Doomsday Clock” to 85 seconds till midnight.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist members had an initial demonstration on Friday and then announced their results on Tuesday.
The scientists cited risks of nuclear war, climate change, potential misuse of biotechnology and the increasing use of artificial intelligence without adequate controls as it made the annual announcement, which rates how close humanity is from ending.
Last year the clock advanced to 89 seconds to midnight.
Since then, “hard-won global understandings are collapsing, accelerating a winner-takes-all great power competition and undermining the international cooperation” needed to reduce existential risks, the group said.
They worry about the threat of escalating conflicts involving nuclear-armed countries, citing the Russia-Ukraine war, May’s conflict between India and Pakistan and whether Iran is capable of developing nuclear weapons after strikes last summer by the US and Israel.
International trust and cooperation is essential because, “if the world splinters into an us-versus-them, zero-sum approach, it increases the likelihood that we all lose,” said Daniel Holz, chair of the group’s science and security board.
The group also highlighted droughts, heat waves and floods linked to global warming, as well as the failure of nations to adopt meaningful agreements to fight global warming — singling out US President Donald Trump’s efforts to boost fossil fuels and hobble renewable energy production.
Starting in 1947, the advocacy group used a clock to symbolize the potential and even likelihood of people doing something to end humanity.
At the end of the Cold War, it was as close as 17 minutes to midnight. In the past few years, to address rapid global changes, the group has changed from counting down the minutes until midnight to counting down the seconds.
The group said the clock could be turned back if leaders and nations worked together to address existential risks.
