GCHQ admits for the first time to 'persistent' hacking in the UK and abroad

The United Kingdom's digital spy agency, GCHQ, has admitted for the first time in court that it hacks computers, smartphones, and networks in the UK and abroad. GCHQ's use of hacking -- known in official parlance as computer network exploitation or CNE -- has been an open secret since the Edward Snowden revelations in 2013, but a legal case brought by Privacy International and seven Internet service providers has confirmed the agency's methods. The case was initiated in May 2014 and alleges that GCHQ's use of hacking lacks oversight and breaks both domestic laws and the human rights act.

In evidence published the week of Nov 30, GCHQ says it undertakes "persistent" hacking, leaving monitoring software on targeted devices. Ben Jaffey, the lawyer for Privacy International and the ISPs, told the court that this gathers up far more information than traditional surveillance. Hacking a smartphone, he said, was "equal to carrying a bug everywhere I go," reports The Financial Times. “If CNE were carried out on my mobile you would get all the meetings I attend by turning on the microphone and access to all my chamber’s files, bank details, my passwords, all my personal material and all my photos," said Jaffey. GCHQ also admitted that it does not need to seek individual warrants before hacking a target device. Instead, the agency primarily relies on "thematic" or "class" warrants, which give permission to intercept communications from "a defined group or network."