Eavesdropping equipment 'useless' against cheap software

The Security Service's tapping equipment that is planned to cover Malta's entire communications network by next year, and which is said to cost between €2 million and €3 million, can be outdone using cheap, readily available software, The Times has learnt.

Last week The Times broke the news that plans were underway to install interception equipment at service providers next year, giving the security services - Malta's equivalent of the secret service - the ability to tap all local communication channels be they land line, mobile line, e-mail or internet.

However, IT experts have told The Times that the interceptor would not be able to scan communication coming from a computer if a cheap, easy-to-obtain encryption piece of software is installed on that computer.

Neither would it be possible to scan a conversation carried on through a computer-based phone service such as Skype, which offers free downloadable software through which phone calls can be made over the internet.

"There are various encryption and camouflage agents (software which scrambles the identification code of a computer) available which render the unit you work from anonymous in the case of e-mail and the internet," a systems administrator who wished to remain anonymous explained.

"But when it comes to phone conversations, systems such as Skype cannot really be tapped," he continued.

"In simple terms, criminals and terrorists, those for whom the security services need the equipment, can become immune by installing cheap software and using secure on-line telephony."

The BBC carried a story last Monday in connection with Anonymizer, software which when installed renders a computer anonymous and untraceable. After 10 years in the business, the BBC reported, Anonymizer has two million active users.

"The US government pays to promote the service in China and Iran in order to help promote free speech.

"But these programmes are becoming popular in the West too," BBC Reporter Dan Simmons explained.

The Malta Communications Authority recently issued a consultation document on the installation of the intercepting equipment. So far not all communication channels can be tapped and the new equipment will give the security services access to the entire network.

The Times contacted the authority to have its version of the story. However, MCA replied that it could not discuss the matter in view of national security considerations.