Software that Belgacom hacked identified – De Morgen

Last year it was announced that Belgacom was the victim of so-called “state-sponsored cyber espionage ‘: the company was hacked with highly sophisticated spyware

. Who was behind the espionage, has never been elucidated. 20 step tember, the German weekly Der Spiegel, however, documents NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden released which showed that GCHQ, the British equivalent of the American intelligence agency NSA, Belgacom had attacked.

Baank Breaking Software

For us it’s always been clear that the malware was very sophisticated. But since the cleaning is for our past time

Jan Margot, spokesman Belgacom

The software used that attack happened, now would be identified as “Regin” advanced malware according to experts is used by both the US NSA and the British GCHQ. The renowned professor and encryption specialist Jean-Jacques Quisquater (UCL) would be attacked with Regin.

Security company Symantec called Regin yesterday in a report already “tech breakthrough spying software that nowhere has no equal.” Symantec also confirms that Regin was used in the attack on certain telecom companies.

Belgacom wants not comment on the unveiling. “Every element that we have discovered about the attack, we have passed to the federal prosecutor,” spokesman Jan Margot told The Standard. “For us it’s always been clear that the malware was very sophisticated. But since the cleaning is for our past.”