GCHQ: EU surveillance hearing is told
of huge cyber-attack on Belgian firm
The Guardian - 10/03/13, Ian Traynor
The German magazine Der Spiegel has reported that Belgacom's systems were infiltrated by GCHQ. Photograph: Julien Warnand/EPA
A cyber-attack on the internet systems of the main Belgian telecommunications company, Belgacom, was so massive and sophisticated that no company or country would have been able to withstand it, a European parliament committee looking into the mass surveillance operations of the US National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain's GCHQ has been told.
"This is a kind of attack that a single company or country would be unable to withstand on its own," said Dirk Lybaert, Belgacom's secretary general. He spoke of "an attack of such complexity and of such a high level and with such resources behind it".
More: TheGuardian.com
