Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The Athens Affair

While I work away on NCAA and APF2K8 impressions, here's something to keep you busy.

Nathan Weber sent me a link to a story about something called "The Athens Affair," which I hadn't even heard of before. Here's an excerpt:
On 9 March 2005, a 38-year-old Greek electrical engineer named Costas Tsalikidis was found hanged in his Athens loft apartment, an apparent suicide. It would prove to be merely the first public news of a scandal that would roil Greece for months.

The next day, the prime minister of Greece was told that his cellphone was being bugged, as were those of the mayor of Athens and at least 100 other high-ranking dignitaries, including an employee of the U.S. embassy.

...Even before Tsalikidis's death, investigators had found rogue software installed on the Vodafone Greece phone network by parties unknown. Some extraordinarily knowledgeable people either penetrated the network from outside or subverted it from within, aided by an agent or mole.


The perpetrators haven't been caught, but this article details the investigation and the methods they used. It's an absolutely fascinating story, and you can read it here.

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