Germans bill Israeli embassy after Mossad car gets stuck in mud
March 9, 2016 Leave a comment
Authorities in a northern German town have called on the Israeli embassy in Berlin to pay for the cost of extricating a car belonging to two Israeli spies, which was stuck in a mud pit in a restricted area. According to the Hamburg-based television station NDR, the incident occurred last December in Quarnbek, a coastal town in Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein state with a population of under 2,000. Two men were reportedly spotted late one afternoon driving a Ford Focus near a restricted area that is surrounded by a fence by the banks of the Kiel Canal. The men came across a locked gate to the restricted area, which, according to NDR, is clearly marked with “no trespassing” signs. However, they reportedly picked the lock and drove through the gate into the restricted area. Shortly afterwards, however, the Ford Focus got stuck in a mud pit inside the Kiel Canal restricted area.
As the two men unsuccessfully tried to get their car unstuck, night began to fall. An elderly resident spotted them and asked them if they were government employees. The men responded that they were there to survey the area in preparation for a sailing contest that was to take place in the Kiel Canal in the summer. But the resident became suspicious and called Quarnbek’s Mayor, Klaus Langer. In turn, the mayor called the police, which sent a team of officers to the restricted site. According to NDR, as soon as the two men spotted the police vehicle, they came out of their car and identified themselves as Israeli consular personnel with diplomatic immunity. They presented their credentials and informed the police officers that they were armed; indeed, two handguns were found in the Ford Focus.
German media reports said the police soon confirmed that the two men were officers of the Mossad, Israel’s primary external intelligence agency, and were in the region to accompany the transfer of the ThyssenKrupp submarine to Israeli hands. Known in Israel as the INS Rahav, the submarine was built in the Kiel shipyard on orders of the Israeli government. According to Mayor Langer, a team of local firefighters was dispatched to help extricate the Mossad officers’ car from the mud. Earlier attempts by a local farmer to extricate the car using a forklift had apparently failed. The Ford Focus was eventually extricated and the two Mossad agents were allowed to leave. Shortly afterwards, Mayor Langer, who was elected as a member of the Green Party, sent the Israeli embassy in Berlin a bill for $1392.28 to cover the cost of the extrication. According to recent reports, the Israelis said they intend to pay up.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 09 March 2015 | Permalink
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intelNews.org 
Senior South Korean officials’ cell phones hacked by North: report
March 10, 2016 by Joseph Fitsanakis 1 Comment
The breach was considered critical enough for the NIS to host an emergency executive meeting with the security heads of 14 government ministries on Tuesday, in order to update them on the situation and to discuss ways of responding to the crisis. According to Korean media, the emergency meeting took place on Tuesday and lasted for over three hours. During the meeting the NIS told ministry representatives that the North Korean operation was launched in late February and was ongoing as of early this week. It specifically targeted government officials and appeared to concentrate on their cell phones, instead of their office phones –probably because the latter are known to be equipped with advanced anti-hacking features. The government employees’ cell phones were reportedly attacked using text messages and emails containing links to web sites that downloaded malicious codes on the users’ phones.
The NIS did not specify the precise purpose of the hacking operation, nor did it explain whether the attacks were informed by an overarching strategic goal. The officials targeted work for a variety of government ministries, but there is no clarification as to whether any operational or administrative links between them exist. The NIS did say, however, that approximately a fifth of all attacks against cell phones were successful in compromising the targeted devices.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 10 March 2016 | Permalink
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with cellular telephony, cybersecurity, National Intelligence Service (South Korea), News, North Korea, South Korea