We all know the basic types of computer system attackers: grad students, competing companies, nation states, etc. But who would have thought, until 2006, that the media would also be involved in several hacking schemes, doing anything in the name of obtaining breaking news, similar to the plot of “Tomorrow Never Dies”? Apparently that’s what the recently-terminated News of the World tabloid did for a living.
Milly Dowler was schoolgirl who was kidnapped and murdered back in 2002. The killer, Levi Bellfield, has already been tried and found guilty earlier this year. However, only recently was it discovered that the News of the World had hacked into her cell phone to obtain news on the case. Finally, a few days ago, the police said that several officers likely also had their cell phones hacked during the case.
Police started investigating how the tabloid obtained its stories back in 2005, when it reported Prince William suffering a knee injury. Since this information had not been disclosed, suspicions that the tabloid had hacked his voicemail were raised. In 2007, several journalists and employees the tabloid were arrested. In July of 2011, allegations surfaced that the News of the World had hacked into Milly Dowler’s cellphone, back in 2002. Three days later, Jamer Murdoch, the tabloid’s owner, closed it down. And finally, a few days ago, it was found that several police officers also likely had their cell phones hacked during the investigation on the Milly Dowler case.
The News of the World case has so far resulted in the resignation of several police officers and the resignation, arrest, emprisonment of several journalists, executives and other employees of the tabloid. The whole News of the World incident prompted several discussions about how the media can self-regulate and how to handle media misconducts. This case is interesting not only for the security implications for cell phone users, but also for all the works of fiction that seemingly predicted scenarios like this one. “Tomorrow Never Dies” comes to mind, but I’m sure y’all can think of more.
More information:
Milly Dowler police ‘likely’ to have been hacked – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15523314
Phone-hacking scandal: Timeline – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14124020
I would imagine that an even more profitable place for hacking than obtaining ground-breaking news would be corporate espionage. There’s a reason that many companies pay extra for “secure communications” in things like their phones and emails. To me, electronic corporate espionage doesn’t seem like a new idea, and I don’t see how a reporter doing this would be all that different.
If this news company was able to hack these peoples’ phones so easily, I’m surprised that this wasn’t discovered and exploited earlier for blackmail. Eavesdropping on a prince’s voicemail seems like it could produce much more interesting results than finding out he’s having knee surgery.
It seems like the underlying problem here is that voicemail security sucks. 4-digit passcodes just don’t cut it do they?
Yes, corporations are a higher value target. Did you know that Tech News agencies like ZDNET have a tacky way of doing this. Once ZDNET scanned throughout all of Microsoft’s job postings to understand what kinds of new products are features were lined up. They were able to see Windows 8 code name much before company made it public. Several other such internal informations have been gathered via employees out of office replies etc.