We Are Change
After accusing a foreign power taking one out of the U.S scape goat book blaming Russian hackers for the BND leak of thousands of documents on NSA investigation committee. German authorities Bundestagspolizei are now looking for the perpetrators of the leak not in cyberspace but in the German parliament’s own walls.
The German magazine ” Der Spiegel” reported that “a violation of secrecy and a special duty of secrecy” is confirmed, a Bundestag spokesman confirmed.
According to the report, German security authorities are convinced that it was not hackers who had stolen the 2,420 documents published by the international whistle-blower organization Wikileaks in early December. It may have been someone from within parliament who leaked the data “Contrary to various media reports, there is absolutely no indication that the documents were stolen during a cyberattack on the Bundestag in the year 2015,” Der Spiegel writes, citing its own source. Back then, alleged Russian hackers seized 16 GB of information.
According to WikiLeaks, the approximately 2400 documents come from various federal agencies such as the Bundesnachrichtendienst and the federal offices for constitutional protection and security in information technology. The documents are intended to provide evidence of cooperation between the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the BND.
Last week, Frankfurter Allegemeine Sonntagszeiting reported erroneously that, according to a top security official, it was likely WikiLeaks got its material from the alleged Russian hackers.
The allegation, was then countered by a German MP from the Green Party (Bundnis 90/Die Grunen), Konstantin von Notz.
Who said that “When the 2015 hacker attack was investigated, it was specifically stated that the NSA investigation committee was not affected,” Konstantin von Notz. told Der Tagespiegel.
An unnamed spokesperson confirmed, “Following the release of confidential documents from the NSA Investigation Committee [in the German parliament], the Bundestag police are investigating the perpetrators in the parliament,” according to Der Spiegel.
On December 1st, 2016, Wikileaks released long sought proof between the broad collaboration of the BND and NSA as well as other spy agencies with the BND NSA documents.
The documents were part of an ongoing inquiry started in 2013 by the German parliament into the extent of collaboration between the BND and U.S. National Intelligence Agency (NSA) after former NSA employee, Edward Snowden leaked a cache of documents that exposed a broad global spying network operating across the globe that involved the NSA, GCHQ and other agencies including the BND.
Snowden was asked to testify about what went on at the NSA between the two agencies but was later told that his safety wouldn’t be guaranteed and his extradition was likely.
On November 21st, 2016, almost two weeks before Wikileaks dropped the BND documents Germany’s Federal Court of Justice upheld the complaint and ruled that the committee was obliged to hear Edward Snowden in person. However, three days later, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Union bloc and the Social Democrats removed Snowden’s invitation from the agenda of the inquiry and are contesting the Court’s decision.
One revelation of the recently leaked Wikileaks BND documents was that German intelligence acted on behalf of the NSA while spying on their own citizens and abroad, causing an uproar of protest among the German public and local officials.
If you liked this story, please share it, if you want to donate and help us to keep continuing this operation, you can do so here. Remember, we are nothing without you. This is your news site and together, We Are Change.
The post WIKILEAKS: Germans Now Believe BND Leak Was An Insider After Erroneously Claiming It Was Russian Hackers appeared first on We Are Change.
