Danish military intelligence uses XKEYSCORE to tap cables in cooperation with...
Last August, it came out that a whistleblower accused the Danish military and signals intelligence service (Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste or FE) of unlawful activities and deliberately misleading...
View ArticleThe NSA tried to spy on Danish and other European targets via cable tapping...
(Updated: December 2, 2020)According to new revelations by the Danish broadcaster DR, the NSA tried to use its collaboration with the Danish military intelligence service FE to spy on targets in some...
View ArticleThe report of a Swiss investigation into the case of Crypto AG
Last month, the Swiss parliamentary intelligence oversight committee published a report about its investigation into the case of Crypto AG, the former Swiss manufacturer of encryption systems that was...
View ArticleThe phones in president Biden's Oval Office
On January 20, Joseph R. Biden Jr. was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. As such he has access to the presidential communications system, including secure and non-secure telephone...
View ArticleThe telephone contacts of president George W. Bush
Always wanted to know who are on the contact list of the President of the United States? In the George W. Bush Presidential Library one can see the telephone from the president's desk in the Oval...
View ArticleThe communications systems at the US Central Command headquarters
(Updated: April 9, 2021)Previously, this weblog provided a close look at the phones used by US president Biden. This time we turn to another end of the line and look at the communications equipment...
View ArticleWhat the NSA provides to its foreign partners, and vice versa
The cooperation between (signals) intelligence agencies of different countries is strictly quid pro quo, which means what you get is equivalent to what you give. This is perfectly illustrated by a...
View ArticleEdward Snowden and the targeted drone killing campaign
Two weeks ago, on October 22, a new document from the Snowden files was published for the first time in over two years. It's an entry from Intellipedia about the American drone killing campaign that...
View ArticleAbout Intellipedia and other intelligence wikis from the Snowden trove
For years, the NSA and other US intelligence agencies have their own internal versions of the collaboration tools that most of us are using day-to-day. Documents from some of these tools have been...
View ArticleFrom the Hotline to the first video call between presidents Biden and Putin
Among the most special telecommunication links are those between the presidents of the United States and Russia. The first and most famous one is the Hotline from 1963, but contrary to popular belief...
View ArticleHead of Danish military intelligence arrested but independent inquiry finds...
Unprecedented developments in Denmark: a former defense minister as well as the head of the military intelligence service FE have been charged for disclosing highly classified information, for which...
View ArticleThe phones of Ukrainian president Zelensky
Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Ukrainian president Zelensky bravely leads his country in the fight against the Russian armed forces. As in any war, communications are of vital...
View ArticleThe highly classified documents found at Trump's residence Mar-a-Lago
This weblog is not only about signals intelligence, communications security and top level telecommunications equipment, but also about the US Classification System, which is equally fascinating in all...
View ArticleJareh Dalke arrested for offering NSA documents to the Russians
On September 28, the FBI arrested Jareh S. Dalke, who attempted to sell the Russians some highly classified documents which he exfiltrated within less than a month after he started working at the NSA....
View ArticleA new secure red telephone for German chancellor Scholz
(Updated: October 30, 2022)In December last year, Olaf Scholz succeeded Angela Merkel as chancellor of Germany. Since about half a year ago, he has a remarkably large red telephone at his desk, which...
View ArticleAbout the legality of the NSA's testing and SIGINT Development projects
On November 1, 2022, Bloomberg published a remarkable story about an NSA analyst who in 2013 developed and tested a new collection method that resulted in the unauthorized collection of American...
View ArticleThe National Security Operations Center (NSOC): 50 years in photos
(Updated: March 6, 2023)On February 21, the NSA's National Security Operations Center (NSOC) celebrated its 50-year anniversary. For this occasion, I will take a close look at a range of unique...
View ArticleEverything you want to know about the Pentagon/Discord Leak
(Updated: April 22, 2023) Two weeks ago, a few highly classified military maps from Pentagon appeared on social media. As more and more of such documents surfaced, this became the most significant leak...
View ArticleNew details about the Pentagon Leak
Last month it became clear that junior airman Jack Teixeira had posted highly classified military intelligence information on the Discord platform, which became known as the Pentagon or Discord Leak....
View ArticleOn the 10th anniversary of the Snowden revelations
To mark the 10-year anniversary of the start of the Snowden revelations I will discuss some of the most notable aspects, based upon the numerous blog posts which I have written here. Still, it should...
View ArticleSome new snippets from the Snowden documents
(Updated: September 15, 2023) It's been more than four years since the last regular publication of documents from the Snowden trove. Last year, however, some new snippets of information from the...
View ArticleThe NSA's new organizational designators
For decades, the organizational structure of the NSA was classified, but since 2013 the Snowden documents provided hundreds of designators of internal divisions, branches and units, which allowed me...
View ArticleLaatste kans voor duidelijkheid over de Tijdelijke wet cyberoperaties [NL]
This time a blog post in Dutch about the temporary act that gives Dutch intelligence and security services more leeway for "operations against countries with an offensive cyber program directed against...
View ArticleSafe and Free: comparing national legislation on electronic surveillance
A project called Safe and Free by the University of Texas now provides an overview of the legal framework for electronic surveillance by intelligence and law enforcement agencies in 12 democratic...
View ArticleEerste Kamer bereikt iets meer duidelijkheid over de Tijdelijke wet...
This time a second blog post in Dutch about a new bill that gives Dutch intelligence and security services more leeway for operations against cyber actors. A summary of this case in English can be...
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