Report accuses BT of supplying backdoors for GCHQ and NSA

December 17, 2013 – 6:04 PM

A paper released earlier this month by a group of security researchers has outlined the technical details behind a potential Computer Network Exploitation (CNE) program likely used by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and their American counterpart, the NSA.

Moreover, the researcher’s say that one of the largest telecom providers in the world, BT Group (formerly British Telecom), ships hardware to the home and office with firmware that enables this secretive surveillance on a massive scale.

In a paper titled The Internet Dark Age the researchers say that BT is shipping hardware with backdoors that allow secret government access in order to make network compromise easier. “BT are directly responsible for covertly embedding secret spy equipment in millions of homes and businesses within the U.K.,” the paper states.

The authors of the paper, (who stated that while they wish to remain anonymous, are ready to appear in a court of law and present their findings) claim to have discovered a key piece to the global surveillance puzzle, addressing several questions that have gone unanswered since documents leaked by former NSA analyst Edward Snowden started appearing this summer. The researchers said that they made their discovery in June, but held the report for an additional six months in order to do additional research and study.

Source:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/121613-report-accuses-bt-of-supplying-276975.html