Here, the engineers found out that they are being monitored – New Technology

     Here, the German engineers at Internet operator Stellar found out that not only their customers but also themselves, monitored in detail by the British intelligence. To the right, Ali Fares, IT Manager at Stellar. Photo: Der Spiegel
     

reveal German magazine Der Spiegel, a German chief engineer on the internet operator Stellar that he and his colleagues – as well as a customer who rents transmission – supervised by British GCHQ.

– This makes me quite uncomfortable.

German engineer Ali Fares, IT Manager at Internet operator Stellar outside Cologne, offering millions of subscribers worldwide Internet via satellite, swallows and swallows, and looks unhappy.

He has just learned that he and a dozen of his engineering colleagues, and likewise an ISP that leases capacity of Stellar – overseen by the British intelligence service GCHQ, which has a intimately signals intelligence cooperation with NSA and the other Anglo-Saxon counterparts in the group The Five Eyes.

The purpose of scouting Ali Fares and fellow engineers on Germany is reported to be that they possess key technical knowledge of the German Internet infrastructure.

It shows top secret GCHQ document, leaked by Edward Snowden, and now revealed by Der Spiegel.

According to documents shall GCHQ in March this year to have hacked into the depths including Stellars IT system and received part of the Internet customer’s password to a central server. The latter includes information about corporate client transmission links in Africa and the Middle East.

According to Ali Fares password theft means that the links become possible to manipulate, and the intelligence services, for example, can turn off the Internet connections, or change the bandwidth.

Der Spiegel also reveals that the attack on Stellar example is closely related to American NSA’s major mapping programs Treasure Map (Tax Map). It later was revealed last November by the New York Times, but the paper now reveals what it means for the German part.

It is anything than harmless, writes Der Spiegel reporters, adding:

“It means rather a mandate for a massive raid on the digital world. It aims to map the Internet, and not just the big traffic channels, such as telecom cables. Without it also seeks to identify the devices through which our data flows, so-called routers. “

Germany is particularly interesting for the NSA and GCHQ, as a large share of the international Internet traffic passing through the country.

The purpose of the survey is to be able to get into the system and monitor traffic, including computers, toads, mobile phones and other connected or connected devices.

Staffan Jonson, policy adviser at the Foundation SE, closely follows the discussion about what is happening with the Internet and mass interception of the world:

– I really do think that there is nothing new has happened but it is a further confirmation and show that the interception continues, probably unchanged and perhaps even turned up in scale.

- That’s rather interesting why it is not discussed more in Sweden, he adds.

You think there should be such a discussion in Sweden

– Yes, it has become a normal state with the systematic interception, despite the Anglo-Saxon intelligence clear ambition to be able to listen to all electronic information. Not just the internet, but also banks’ secret system – and corporate transactions, yes everything, says Staffan Jonson.

– It was among First Snowden said he could access the Whose anywhere and listen to his or her communication.

Watch the video when Der Spiegel Stellar visiting and talking with the engineers.