http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33125068
British spies 'moved after Snowden files read'
- 28 minutes ago
- From the section UK
UK intelligence agents have been moved because Russia and China can read files stolen by a US whistleblower, a senior government source has told the BBC.
The Sunday Times is reporting that Russia and China have cracked the encryption of the computer files.
The government source told the BBC the countries "have information" that led to agents being moved but added there was "no evidence" any had been harmed.
Edward Snowden, now in Russia, leaked intelligence data two years ago.
The former CIA contractor left the US in 2013 after leaking details of extensive internet and phone surveillance by American intelligence to the media.
His information made international headlines in June 2013 when the Guardian newspaper reported that the US National Security Agency was collecting the telephone records of tens of millions of Americans.
Mr Snowden is believed to have downloaded 1.7 million secret documents before he left the US.
'Hostile countries'
The government source said the information obtained by Russia and China meant that "knowledge of how we operate" had stopped the UK getting "vital information".
Intelligence officials have long warned of what they see as the dangers of the information leaked by Mr Snowden and its potential impact on keeping people in the UK safe - a concern Prime Minister David Cameron has said he shares.
According to the Sunday Times, Western intelligence agencies have been forced to pull agents out of "hostile countries" after "Moscow gained access to more than one million classified files" held by Mr Snowden.
"Senior government sources confirmed that China had also cracked the encrypted documents, which contain details of secret intelligence techniques and information that could allow British and American spies to be identified," the newspaper added.
'Huge setback'
Tim Shipman, who co-wrote the Sunday Times story, told the BBC: "Snowden said 'nobody bad has got hold of my information'.
"Well, we are told authoritatively by people in Downing Street, in the Home Office, in the intelligence services that the Russians and the Chinese have all this information and as a result of that our spies are having to pull people out of the field because their lives are in danger.
"People in government are deeply frustrated that this guy has been able to put all this information out there."
The newspaper quoted Sir David Omand, former director of UK intelligence agency GCHQ, saying the fact Russia and China had the information was a "huge strategic setback" that was "harming" to Britain, the US and their Nato allies.
It comes two days after the UK's terrorism watchdog David Anderson QC published a review into terrorism legislation, which was set up amid public concerns about surveillance sparked by Mr Snowden's revelations.
He said the country needed clear new laws about the powers of security services to monitor online activity and concluded that the current situation was "undemocratic, unnecessary and - in the long run - intolerable".
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats...got-snowden-files.html?source=TDB&via=FB_Page
Report: Russia, China Crack Snowden Docs
Mark Blinch/Reuters
Russia and China have allegedly decrypted the top-secret cache of files stolen by whistleblower Edward Snowden, according to a report from The Sunday Times, to be published tomorrow. The info has compelled British intelligence agency MI6 to withdraw some of its agents from active operations and other Western intelligence agencies are now actively involved in rescue operations. In a July 2013 email to a former U.S. Senator, Snowden stated that, "No intelligence service—not even our own—has the capacity to compromise the secrets I continue to protect. While it has not been reported in the media, one of my specializations was to teach our people at DIA how to keep such information from being compromised even in the highest threat counter-intelligence environments (i.e. China)." Many in the intelligence agencies at the time greeted this claim with scepticism. Now, one senior British official said Snowden had "blood on his hands," but another said there's yet no evidence anyone was harmed. Snowden eventually fled to Russia via Hong Kong after downloading some 1.7 million documents from U.S. government computers and leaking them to journalists out of a desire to protect "privacy and basic liberties." The revelations of mass spying outraged populations and governments around the world, at least temporarily damaged relations, and eventually led to changes in the mass surveillance policies of the NSA and British GCHQ.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...nowden-files-to-identify-british-and-us-spies
Russia and China 'broke into Snowden files to identify British and US spies'
Sunday Times says Downing Street believes both nations have hacked into American whistleblower’s files, and that agents have been put in peril
Edward Snowden takes part in an online Q&A session from Moscow last year. Photograph: Itar-Tass/Barcroft Media
James Tapper
Saturday 13 June 2015 20.02 EDTLast modified on Saturday 13 June 2015 20.27 EDT
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Downing Street believes that Russian and Chinese intelligence agencies have used documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden to identify British and US secret agents, according to a report in the Sunday Times.
The newspaper says MI6, Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, has withdrawn agents from overseas operations because Russian security services had broken into encrypted files held by American computer analyst Snowden.
Snowden provided the Guardian with top secret documents from the US National Security Agency (NSA), which revealed that western intelligence agencies had been undertaking mass surveillance of phone and internet use.
He fled to Hong Kong, then to Moscow, and the Sunday Times claims that both Chinese and Russian security officials gained access to his files as a result.
The files held by Snowden were encrypted, but now British officials believe both countries have hacked into the files, according to the report.
The newspaper quotes a series of anonymous sources from Downing Street, the Home Office and British intelligence saying that the documents contained intelligence techniques and information that would enable foreign powers to identify British and American spies.
The newspaper quoted a “senior Downing Street source” saying that “Russians and Chinese have information”.
The source said “agents have had to be moved and that knowledge of how we operate has stopped us getting vital information”. The source said they had “no evidence” that anyone had been harmed.
A “senior Home Office source” was also quoted by the newspaper, saying: “Putin didn’t give him asylum for nothing. His documents were encrypted but they weren’t completely secure and we have now seen our agents and assets being targeted.”
The Sunday Times also quoted a “British intelligence source” saying that Russian and Chinese officials would be examining Snowden’s material for “years to come”.
“Snowden has done incalculable damage,” the intelligence source reportedly said. “In some cases the agencies have been forced to intervene and lift their agents from operations to prevent them from being identified and killed.”
A Downing Street spokeswoman told the Observer on Saturday night: “We don’t comment on leaks.”
This. fukking. Guy. Here.
I TOLD YOU THIS TRAITOROUS fukk DID NOT GIVE ANY fukkS ABOUT YOU. HE KNOWS NO LOYALTY OR ALLEGIANCE.
ON THE WORLD STAGE, THIS shyt MATTERS AND THIS fukkER HAS LEVELED THE PLAYING FIELD.
PROSECUTE THIS a$$hole.
NOW.
ALLLLLL HE HAD TO DO WHAS KEEP IT TO DOMESTIC LEAKS.
BUT NO.
HE COULDN'T DO THAT. HE WANTED TO GO ON SOME MISSION TO EXPOSE ONLY USA EFFORTS.
WELL GUESS WHAT EDDIE. YOU fukkED UP.
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