British spies employed 'dirty tricks'
including 'honey traps' in a bid to trap nations, hackers, terror
groups, suspected criminals and arms dealers, according to leaked
documents.
The bombshell revelations have been made public through the release of documents taken from the National Security Agency by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The Powerpoint slides outline techniques used by the Joint Threat Research and Intelligence Group (JTRIG), a British spy unit whose goal is to 'destroy, deny, degrade [and] disrupt' enemies.
The slides from 2010 and 2012, published by NBC News showed that the JTRIG completed their mission by 'discrediting' adversaries through misinformation and hacking their communications.
Two main methods of attack detailed in the 'Effects' campaigns are cyber operations and propaganda campaigns
JTRIG, which is part of the NSA’s British counterpart, the cyber spy agency known as GCHQ, used Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and YouTube for deception, mass messaging and 'pushing stories'.
Another strategy is 'false flag' operations -this is when British agents carry out online actions that are designed to look like they were performed by one of Britain’s adversaries.
The main cyber attack is the ‘distributed denial of service’ (DDoS) attack.
This is when computers are taken over by hackers and they bombard a website’s host computers with requests for information causing it to crash - this is a method successfully used by Wikileaks hackers.
Earlier this week it was revealed that JTRIG agents issued their DDoS on Anonymous chat rooms, preventing its users from communicating with one another.
In one case, reported the BBC, agents are said to have tricked a hacker nicknamed P0ke who claimed to have stolen data from the US government. They did this by sending him a link to a BBC article entitled: 'Who loves the hacktivists?'
Eric King, an attorney who currently teaches IT law at the London School of Economics, told NBC it is 'remarkable' that the GCHQ has become so adept at launching DDoS attacks without 'clear lawful authority,' particularly because the British government has criticised similar strategies used by other governments.
+5
'GCHQ has no clear authority to send a virus or conduct cyber-attacks,' he said. 'Hacking is one of the most invasive methods of surveillance.'
According to notes on the 2012 documents, a computer virus called Ambassadors Reception was 'used in a variety of different areas' and was 'very effective.'
When sent to adversaries, says the presentation, the virus will 'encrypt itself, delete all emails, encrypt all files, make [the] screen shake' and block the computer user from logging on.
One of the ways to block a target communicating reads: 'Bombard their phone with text messages, bombard their phone with calls, delete their online presence, block up their fax machine.'
The slide details examples of how this was used in Afghanistan including significantly disrupting the Taliban, sending targets a text message 'every 10 seconds or so' and 'calling targets on a regular basis'.
The British cyber spies also used blog posts and information spread via blogs in an operation against Iran.
The same 2012 presentation describes the 'honey trap' method of discrediting a target commenting it is 'very successful' when it works.
The individual is lured 'to go somewhere on the internet, or a physical location' where they are then 'met by a friendly face.'
It does not give any examples of when the honey trap has been used by British agents, but the same slide also details how 'paranoia' can be heightened by changing a target's photo on a social networking website - the slide reads 'You have been warned JTRIG is about!'
A programme called 'Royal Concierge' took advantage of hotel reservation systems to track the location of foreign diplomats and the slides encourage agents to monitor targets through 'close access technical operations'.
It also suggests they question 'Can we influence hotel choice? Can we cancel their visits?'
According to reports in Der Spiegel last year, British intelligence tapped the reservations systems of over 350 top hotels around the world for the past three years to set up the programme.
Using the GCHQ’s SIGINT (signal-intelligence) program it was used to spy on trade delegations, foreign diplomats, and other targets with a taste for the high life.
NBC news reported GCHQ would not comment on the newly published documents or on JTRIG’s operations.
In a statement it told them: 'All of GCHQ's work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework,' said the statement, 'which ensure[s] that our activities are authorized, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight, including from the Secretary of State, the Interception and Intelligence Services Commissioners and the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee. All of our operational processes rigorously support this position.'
The bombshell revelations have been made public through the release of documents taken from the National Security Agency by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The Powerpoint slides outline techniques used by the Joint Threat Research and Intelligence Group (JTRIG), a British spy unit whose goal is to 'destroy, deny, degrade [and] disrupt' enemies.
British spies employed 'dirty tricks' including
honey traps' in a bid to trap nations, hackers, terror groups, suspected
criminals and arms dealers
The slides from 2010 and 2012, published by NBC News showed that the JTRIG completed their mission by 'discrediting' adversaries through misinformation and hacking their communications.
Two main methods of attack detailed in the 'Effects' campaigns are cyber operations and propaganda campaigns
The bombshell revelations have been made public
through the release of documents taken from the National Security Agency
by whistleblower Edward Snowden
JTRIG, which is part of the NSA’s British counterpart, the cyber spy agency known as GCHQ, used Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and YouTube for deception, mass messaging and 'pushing stories'.
Another strategy is 'false flag' operations -this is when British agents carry out online actions that are designed to look like they were performed by one of Britain’s adversaries.
The main cyber attack is the ‘distributed denial of service’ (DDoS) attack.
This is when computers are taken over by hackers and they bombard a website’s host computers with requests for information causing it to crash - this is a method successfully used by Wikileaks hackers.
Earlier this week it was revealed that JTRIG agents issued their DDoS on Anonymous chat rooms, preventing its users from communicating with one another.
In one case, reported the BBC, agents are said to have tricked a hacker nicknamed P0ke who claimed to have stolen data from the US government. They did this by sending him a link to a BBC article entitled: 'Who loves the hacktivists?'
Eric King, an attorney who currently teaches IT law at the London School of Economics, told NBC it is 'remarkable' that the GCHQ has become so adept at launching DDoS attacks without 'clear lawful authority,' particularly because the British government has criticised similar strategies used by other governments.
+5
A strategy is 'false flag' operations, in which
British agents carry out online actions that are designed to look like
they were performed by one of Britain¿s adversaries
'GCHQ has no clear authority to send a virus or conduct cyber-attacks,' he said. 'Hacking is one of the most invasive methods of surveillance.'
According to notes on the 2012 documents, a computer virus called Ambassadors Reception was 'used in a variety of different areas' and was 'very effective.'
When sent to adversaries, says the presentation, the virus will 'encrypt itself, delete all emails, encrypt all files, make [the] screen shake' and block the computer user from logging on.
One of the ways to block a target communicating reads: 'Bombard their phone with text messages, bombard their phone with calls, delete their online presence, block up their fax machine.'
The slide details examples of how this was used in Afghanistan including significantly disrupting the Taliban, sending targets a text message 'every 10 seconds or so' and 'calling targets on a regular basis'.
The British cyber spies also used blog posts and information spread via blogs in an operation against Iran.
One of the ways to stop a target communicating
reads: 'Bombard their phone with text messages, bombard their phone with
calls, delete their online presence, block up their fax machine'
The same 2012 presentation describes the 'honey trap' method of discrediting a target commenting it is 'very successful' when it works.
The individual is lured 'to go somewhere on the internet, or a physical location' where they are then 'met by a friendly face.'
It does not give any examples of when the honey trap has been used by British agents, but the same slide also details how 'paranoia' can be heightened by changing a target's photo on a social networking website - the slide reads 'You have been warned JTRIG is about!'
A programme called 'Royal Concierge' took advantage of hotel reservation systems to track the location of foreign diplomats and the slides encourage agents to monitor targets through 'close access technical operations'.
It also suggests they question 'Can we influence hotel choice? Can we cancel their visits?'
According to reports in Der Spiegel last year, British intelligence tapped the reservations systems of over 350 top hotels around the world for the past three years to set up the programme.
Using the GCHQ’s SIGINT (signal-intelligence) program it was used to spy on trade delegations, foreign diplomats, and other targets with a taste for the high life.
NBC news reported GCHQ would not comment on the newly published documents or on JTRIG’s operations.
In a statement it told them: 'All of GCHQ's work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework,' said the statement, 'which ensure[s] that our activities are authorized, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight, including from the Secretary of State, the Interception and Intelligence Services Commissioners and the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee. All of our operational processes rigorously support this position.'
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