New documents leaked by Edward Snowden reveal that both the British Intelligence and the NSA regularly intercept the British MPs emails.
According to Computer Weekly, new documents leaked by Edward Snowden reveal that both the British Intelligence and the NSA regularly intercept the British MPs emails and peers.
The revelations have been made public through an investigation by Computer Weekly, based on leaked documents by the now-exiled former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
The GCHQ and the NSA intercepted sensitive emails of British MPs and the privileged correspondence between parliamentarians and their constituents, the surveillance leveraged on the Parliamentâs Microsoft computer system, Office 365.
The British cyber spies alleged accessed the emails when they leave the UK in transit to Microsoftâs data centers in Dublin and the Netherlands
“GCHQ documents classified above top secret, released by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, also reveal that the spy agency has the capability to scan the content of parliamentary emails for âkeywordsâ through an established cyber defence network that is connected to commercial software used to filter spam emails from MPsâ inboxes.” reported Computer Weekly.
At least since 2014, the GCHQ used its Tempora interception system to collect metadata related to the parliamentary emails, including sender, recipient and subject matter.
“The controversial decision by Parliament to replace its internal email and desktop office software with Microsoftâs Office 365 service in 2014, means that parliamentary data and documents constantly pass in and out of the UK to Microsoftâs datacentres in Dublin and the Netherlands, across the backbone of the internet.”
The Tempora system allowed the GCHQ to scan the content of parliamentary emails searching for specific keywords.
The NSA Prism program was used by the NSA to access all parliamentary documents and email through Microsoft Office 365 software, as a result of secret directives given to Microsoft under the US 2008 surveillance laws. The same directives were implemented by Microsoft that provided the cloud email system Office 365 to the British Houses of Parliament.
The MPsâ communications have been partially protected from interception under the âWilson Doctrine,â introduced in 1968, but it doesn’t protect communications that leave the UKâs borders, this lack of protection is exploited by the GCHQ spies.
âThe House of Commons administration has serious questions to answer,â Tory MP David Davis told Computer Weekly.
âOn whose authority was âconsentâ granted to view membersâ emails? How did they manage to obtain that consent from every one of the 650 members whose constituentsâ confidentiality is affected?â the former Home Office minister asked.
âThe government should also make it clear to parliament the extent to which scanning of all mail by a US-controlled company has made Parliamentary communications vulnerable to agencies of a foreign power, namely the American NSA,â he added.
British MP defined as shocking these revelations that urge an action from the UK Government.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/secbloggerwards2016
Thank you
Pierluigi
(Security Affairs â GCHQ, MPs emails)