Belgian Prosecutors Confirm UK Involvement in Surveillance of Belgacom - Reports

09:07 GMT, 20 September 2018

CC BY 2.0 / Defence Images / GCHQ Building at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - The Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office has confirmed in its conclusions that the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in 2013 intercepted communications of Belgium's largest telecommunications company Proximus Group, formerly known as Belgacom Group, Belgium's L'Echo newspaper reported Thursday.

Sputnik

According to Belgium's L'Echo newspaper, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office has provided its investigative findings and conclusions to Justice Minister Koen Geens, who confirmed that he would present the investigative report at the National Security Council.

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Earlier in September, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the GCHQ violated the right to privacy with its mass electronic surveillance program, also exposed by Snowden. The case was based on three applications filed by a coalition of rights groups and organizations in 2013-2015. These actions followed Snowden's revelations that the GCHQ was running an operation called Tempora that allowed it to tap into and store large volumes of data, including phone calls, messages and Internet communication.

In September 2013, a document released by former US National Security Agency (NSA) officer, whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the GCHQ orchestrated a cyberattack against Belgacom's computer network in an operation dubbed Socialist in August of the same year. According to the leaked documents, the cyberattack enabled the GCHQ to gain access to the telecommunication company's customers personal data.