Ericsson fined over Olympic phone tap scandal
PrintDon't tap the PM's phone...
Posted in Telecoms, 7th September 2007 10:35 GMT
Free webcast: Service level monitoring and management
Ericsson has been hit with a €7.36m ($10m) fine for its role in tapping mobile phones belonging to the Greek prime minister and members of his Cabinet.
The Greek privacy watchdog levied the fine for Ericsson's part in tapping phones belonging to 100 senior government figures in the run up to the 2004 Athens Olympics. Calls to these mobiles were diverted to 14 shadow pay-as-you-go phones and probably recorded.
The Hellenic Authority for the Information and Communication Security and Privacy (ADAE) said the fine was set based on Ericsson's turnover in Greece.
Vodafone was previously fined over €76m ($100m) for its role in the scandal but protested its innocence. The operator was blamed for allowing hackers to gain control of a piece of Ericsson surveillance software. Vodafone's Greek head of network design supposedly killed himself two days after the phone tapping was publicly revealed.
The problem came to light after Vodafone began investigating problems with delivering text messages.
The case sparked speculation that foreign intelligence services were involved.
Ericsson told Reuters that it disputed the decision and would appeal it in the Greek courts.
Analyst Keynote: The Register Agile Data Center Summit
SMB phone systems product requirements worksheet
What Exchange can't do - and Dell can
Enabling The Agile Data Center
Checklist: signs you need to upgrade your business phone system
Dirty, dirty PCs: The X-rated picture guide
Top 500 supers - rise of the Linux quad-cores
Early adopters bloodied by Ubuntu's Karmic Koala
Sign up, sign up for The Register IT security newsletter