The Pakistani military allegedly coordinated a surveillance operation which collected data from US, UK, and Australian officials and diplomats.

In a report, Lookout said they believe Pakistani military personnel were responsible for targeting civilians, officials, diplomats, and military personnel.

“These tools have been part of a highly targeted intelligence gathering campaign we believe is operated by members of the Pakistani military,” the report stated.

“Our investigation indicates this actor has used these surveillanceware tools to successfully compromise the mobile devices of government officials, members of the military, medical professionals, and civilians.”

The report also states:

“To date, we have observed Stealth Mango being deployed against victims in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. The surveillanceware also retrieved sensitive data from individuals and groups in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.”

At present, Lookout have analysed over 15 gigabytes of data taken from compromised devices, the majority of which is
information that would be relevant to a nation state actor performing espionage activities. Content includes:

• Letters and internal government communications
• Detailed travel information
• Pictures of IDs and passports
• GPS coordinates of pictures and devices
• Legal and medical documents
• Developer information including whiteboard
sessions, account information, and test devices
• Photos of the military, government, and related officials
from closed door meetings including U.S. Army personnel

Lookout’s head of threat intelligence, Michael Flossman, a former Australian Defence Depart­ment employee, has reportedly said that Australian law enforcement authorities had been alerted to the breach that also involved diplomats from Britain and the US.

 

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George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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[…] post Pakistani military reportedly accessed phones belonging to US and UK officials appeared first on UK Defence […]

Barry Larking
Barry Larking
5 years ago

Well! I wasn’t expecting that.

From Wikipedia:

Bin Laden was killed within the fortified complex of buildings that was probably built for him,[236] and had reportedly been his home for at least five years.[237][238] The compound was located less than a mile from Pakistan Military Academy and less than 100 kilometers’ drive from Pakistan’s capital.[239][240][241]

andy reeves
andy reeves
5 years ago
Reply to  Barry Larking

this cyber warfare business is something the u.k must strive to be at the cutting edge of

Julian
Julian
5 years ago
Reply to  andy reeves

I think we are at the cutting edge but it’s true, we must strive to keep at the cutting edge and the sharper we can get the better.

farouk
farouk
5 years ago

The biggest recipient of British foreign aid is …..Pakistan. This is country with: 1) Very poor Human rights 2) An active Anti-minority agenda especially Christians who are treated like scum. Which coming from a scummy country in the first place is bad 3) Has an active Nuclear weapons program which is supposed to be larger than the UKs. 4) Supports and funds many Islamic terrorist groups 5) Is currently engaged And has been for the past week) in a bun fight with India , where it has been shelling Indian towns simply because they can. Resulting in India evacuating 80,000… Read more »

AV
AV
5 years ago
Reply to  farouk

Well said.

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
5 years ago
Reply to  farouk

Well said!

PC is poisoning this country.

Marc
Marc
5 years ago
Reply to  farouk

Well said brother droogy.

Spyinthesky
Spyinthesky
5 years ago
Reply to  Marc

Oh and if you are an aithiest should the gangs not do it first you will very likely be tried and executed for your ‘sins’. Equally they have no more right to even exist as a oh try than Israel and though they do so on similar original principles they are far less tolerant or democratic nor concerned about taking human lives of political/nationalist reasons, yet not a word outside of India is ever mentioned on such an incovenient truth.

Mike
Mike
5 years ago
Reply to  farouk

Well said

Richard
Richard
5 years ago
Reply to  farouk

Pakistan has more combat experience than the UK! Surely not. Has any country more combat experience than the UK? We’ve invaded 98% of the world.

ars
ars
4 years ago
Reply to  farouk

This all is a very biased opinion, which is contrary to the facts. yes, Pakistan has the right to protect itself. no matter how bad it hurts those who are initiators of such terrorist/ espionage activities in Pakistan. Yes,, you mess with Pakistan,,, we will be on lookout FOR YOU…BELIEVE

Pacman27
Pacman27
5 years ago

Well said Farouk

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
5 years ago

On a more serious note.

CESG/ GCHQ / HMGCC not doing their jobs properly if Pakistan is able to intercept phones of officials.

Were they high level officials? These people’s phones are usually proofed against such attacks?

And if they were I hope papers like the Guardian take note that actually spying goes on the world over and it’s not just the evil west doing it.

Yet another strand of the PC self hate so well described by farouk in his post above.

Julian
Julian
5 years ago

Reading some of the more detailed reporting it’s not clear to me that the UK authorities really could have done anything against this. UK personnel were not targeted and from how I read the reports no malicious software was found on any of their devices. Sadly UKDJ truncated a critical piece from the quote they took from the report. The full quote is… “To date, we have observed Stealth Mango being deployed against victims in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates,” Lookout researchers said in a report. “The surveillanceware also retrieved sensitive data from individuals and… Read more »

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
5 years ago
Reply to  Julian

Good post cheers Julian.

Clearly not so obvious as a direct attack on supposedly secure phones but a more data mining sort of thing on the peripheries.

Julian
Julian
5 years ago

Well, it was a direct attack on the phones of victims in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Iran and UAE. Presumably because the phones that were compromised had sensitive data on them info implies that at least some of them were presumably supposed to be secure by those countries’ standards. Whether that group of phones was chosen as a deliberate attack vector against UK/USA/etc information or whether the operation was specifically against the affected phones and any incoming information gathered was viewed as a collateral benefit we (the likes of you and I outside of the security bubble) will likely never… Read more »

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
5 years ago
Reply to  Julian

Course not. But I have every confidence GCHQ have it all in hand and are replying in kind ten times over.

Lusty
Lusty
5 years ago

Let’s cut their contingent of the foreign aid budget. Use some of the money to help our own service personnel when they leave their service. The fact that we have veterans on the streets is appalling, and the treatment of both Ghurkas and Afghan interpreters has been horrendous. And we still have the PC lynch mob chasing British veterans for alleged crimes committed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ulster, whilst the real bad eggs still walk among society? Of course, it’s okay for the IRA to blow something up, but if a British soldier shoots someone for running away? Lock him… Read more »

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
5 years ago
Reply to  Lusty

Another good post.

But Lusty. That is the whole point of PC is it not? Since when does protecting or putting your own first ever come into it when in fact belittling your own while emphasising the needs and requirements of others is PC in a nutshell.

There really needs to be open national debate on this, maybe a referendum? Oh wait!

Lusty
Lusty
5 years ago

Well pardon my French, but sod PC. I fully agree that we need to continue with overseas aid in all its forms. It significantly helps us with our soft power as I mentioned, and will play a key role in continuing to develop ‘Global Britain’. But that said, I do feel we must be more stringent on who receives our aid. Our own ruling and the international ruling must change. I mean, And prior to Irma, we couldn’t even use our aid budget for our Caribbean territories in the event of a disaster! Responding to natural and humanitarian disasters is… Read more »

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
5 years ago
Reply to  Lusty

The referendum bit was tongue in cheekbone my part.

I mean, look at the current crap underway.

I trusted that vote, I proudly voted leave and I have no faith Whatsoever that the government will carry out my wishes.

Lusty
Lusty
5 years ago

You and me both, Daniele,you and me both!

Marc
Marc
5 years ago

Google Imran Awan,might be connected.

J
J
5 years ago

Pakistan belongs to China now ,cut ties with that backwards country and fully align ourselves with India, if they can sort their internal issues out they’ll be the only economic and military counter to China in Asia at least in terms of available manpower and industrial capacity. That being said they’ve got a long way to go before they can realise their potential

Paul.P
Paul.P
5 years ago
Reply to  J

In India the Hindu people need to understand Christianity should be encouraged and in China the communist government need to understand Christianity needs to be encouraged. Happy days!

Chris
Chris
5 years ago

Its far more serious than any attack on military cyber / data … they were after the English Test team tactics and ground information and why they beat us by 9 wickets …

Now THAT is serious ….

Chris
Chris
5 years ago

** Chris H **

David E Flandry
David E Flandry
5 years ago

Take most of the money being given to Pakistan and give it to the Royal Navy.