back to article Scotland Yard probes News of the World computer hacking claims

Police are investigating allegations of computer hacking at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid in a separate probe from Scotland's Yard current Operation Weeting into phone-hacking claims. "The MPS has received a number of allegations regarding breach of privacy which fall outside the remit of Operation Weeting, …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. corestore

    Bugger 'breach of privacy'...

    In the cases where police information has been involved, it's much more serious - it''s an OSA matter. Plod stands to go to jail for breach of OSA, journalists stand to go to jail for conspiracy to breach OSA.

    I'm surprised this hasn't been discussed more; every plod signs the OSA when they join. A lot of people could be going to jail for a long time over this.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Meh

      Sadly, much as it may be a salutory lesson

      I doubt anyone other than "little people" will be guested by HMP. At a senior level you will really have to have pissed someone off and have no 'buried body' information for their to be a remote chance of being held to account.

      If HMRC grew some male reproductives then they could apply the Al Capone code and go after the tax evaders to get leverage but I doubt it will happen.

      No much overdue sea change here, Nothing to see, move along now, we have your photograph, DNA & Smoking gun so don't come back.

      1. jm83

        HMRC

        thats unlikely to happen... Private Eye often carry interesting stories about the head of HMRC.

  2. Guido Esperanto
    Boffin

    /title

    I wonder if the attempts will come from a murdoch controlled IP address.

    feverently trying to divert police resources, until incriminating files can be removed.

  3. johnnytruant

    I wonder where they get their codenames from

    Weeting is a tiny village in Norfolk, Tuleta is an even tinier place in Texas.

    Presumably there is some sort of system, or maybe someone just spins a globe and jabs a finger..

    1. rjmx
      Pirate

      More to the point ..

      Why do they have code names at all? Is it to impress us poor members of the public? Or is the average cop too stupid to remember what he's supposed to be doing when he rolls in to work unless he's got a code name to look up?

      1. Cliff

        Why codenames?

        "Hi, I'm PC A, and I'm working on the NoTW case, not the phones, one, but the one where there may have been computer hacking incidents, are you working on that one, or the one where voicemails have been intercepted, but which doesn't cover the computer secutiy breaching?"

        "Hi, I'm PC A, I'm working on Project X, are you working on Project X or Y?"

        I can see an economy in codenames.

      2. CyberCod
        Facepalm

        Oh duh

        Generally code names allow people to converse freely within earshot of others, without anyone who isn't in on the case having the slightest clue what is being discussed. Also, officers generally have a lot of active cases at one time, so having some means of identifying them in conversation is handy so there's not a lot of "Hey, I have some information on that ONE case... You know, the one with the -wink-"

  4. andy mcandy
    Pint

    if my clancy knowledge is correct...

    ...the operation titles are randomly selected from a list of keywords. because its random, you cant deduce the matter of the operation solely by its title

    /me gets back to espionage novels...with cold pint in hand!

    1. Peladon

      I'm sure I put that title _somewhere_...

      'if my clancy knowledge is correct... #'

      You are undoubtedly correct from a tradecraft perspective. However, the general approach of blabbing both the operational designation and purpose/ function to anybody who asks sort of renders the practice less than effective, no?

      It's probably so they can make sure it goes in the wrong folder in the filing cabinet. Can't be having things put in the right place - the wrong people might ask to see them!

      FOI? We've heard of that...

  5. Trainee grumpy old ****
    Boffin

    Hacking eh?

    After the "phone hacking" will the alleged computer hacking be more technical than following someone on Twitter or friending them on Facebook?

  6. ideapete

    Bent Coppers launch full investigation of Wikipedia

    To find out what acronyms and hacking really mean

    The Dick that isn't thinks they are medical terms !

  7. MarkieMark1
    Joke

    so now we know

    who really wrote stuxnet

  8. oldredlion
    Headmaster

    Mobile phone "hacking"

    I wish they'd expand a bit on the mobile phone "Hacking" process.

    I've read articles that say some celebs have used PINs on their mobile voice mail boxes and were still being "hacked".

    This means that someone is - somehow - getting that PIN and using it to listen in.

    Now I do not believe that anyone is stupid enough to blab the PIN, certainly not to the extent that is suggested by the number of cases.

    AIUI you only get 10 attempts to guess your PIN so that is unlikely to be the cause.

    So how is it happening?

    Is (was) there an enormous security hole in the mobile voice mail system that allowed employees to see PINs and pass that info on?

    1. Paul E

      Blagging I think

      i.e. By phoning up the phone companies and pretending to be the phone owner and have forgotten their pin.

      1. oldredlion
        Holmes

        Blagging?

        If that's the case then it is a big security hole.

        It would have to be done via another phone that is not tied to the account phone number, i.e. there is nothing to securely link the person calling to the account or phone - so the mobile company would be giving out PINs to any old Tom, Dick or Harry who calls up! That can't be the case, can it?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Big Brother

      Visable pin (annon as still within the industry)

      In the days of 121 still being a brand, these were readily available on the back end of the system viewable and amendable at call centre level. Back then the voicemail access number was different to that of the cell phone number. So this fun and games has been going on for a lot longer than what has been raised in the press.

      1. oldredlion
        Thumb Up

        "viewable and amendable at call centre level"

        Ah ha! Then that explains quite a lot about how the hacking worked and why it happened.

        Thanks, that's the first piece of solid information I've seen about these "hacking" cases.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Meh

          Bribing CSRs

          Is another option.

          Steve Whittamore acknowledged paying BT CSR staff to provide friends and family information for example.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    Climategate

    I wonder if we might find out who hacked the emails from the UEA after all... Murdoch is well known for being a denier of climate change.

    1. PatrickE
      Facepalm

      @Climategate

      Leaked mate. Leaked.

  10. dephormation.org.uk
    Holmes

    The corrupt Met Police investigating the corrupt Met Police

    The whole set of NoTW cases is in peril of collapsing in chaos if just one suspect were to claim in their defence that an officer involved in the investigation was a party to the bribery/corruption scam.

    An independent and trustworthy force should be brought in to investigate (as much as another bunch of Freemasons could ever be considered independent or trustworthy).

    Perhaps the Police could look at the links between the NoTW scam, computer hacking, and BT/Phorm? Harbottle & Lewis also advised Phorm.

    Sherlock, (because he was a proper detective, with a career recorded in fictitious stories).

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like