Merkel Bugged While Pondering Greece Crisis

Tsipras_Merkel.jpg

The United States National Security Agency has been massively targeting phone numbers of top German ministers and public officials responsible for commerce, finances, economics and agriculture – including even Angela Merkel's personal assistant.

WikiLeaks published a list of 69 German government telephone numbers from a high-priority NSA target interception list demonstrating economic and political espionage against Germany for almost two decades. WikiLeaks is also publishing classified interception reports resulting from the surveillance, showing the US and UK spying on German officials discussing their positions and disagreements on the solution to the Greek financial crisis.

Discussing the Greek financial crisis with her personal assistant on 11 October, German Chancellor Angela Merkel professed to be at a loss as to which option--another haircut or a transfer union--would be best for addressing the situation. (The term "haircut" refers to the losses that private investors would incur on the current net value of their Greek bond holdings.) 

Merkel's fear was that Athens would be unable to overcome its problems even with an additional haircut, since it would not be able to handle the remaining debt. Furthermore, she doubted that sending financial experts to Greece would be of much help in bringing the financial system there under control. 

Within the German cabinet, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schnaeuble alone continued to strongly back another haircut, despite Merkel's efforts to rein him in, while France and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso were seen to be in favor of a gentler approach. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was solidly opposed, with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde described as undecided on the issue. 

Finally, Merkel believed that action must be taken to enact a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT); doing so next year, she assessed, would be a major step toward achieving some balance in relief for banks. In that regard, the Germans thought that pressure could be brought to bear on the US and British governments to help bring about an FTT.

Wikileaks

 

« Court Briefly Returns NSA Surveillance Program
Police campaign: UK Cybercrime Surges 27% in 2015 »

Infosecurity Europe
CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

TÜV SÜD Academy UK

TÜV SÜD Academy UK

TÜV SÜD offers expert-led cybersecurity training to help organisations safeguard their operations and data.

BackupVault

BackupVault

BackupVault is a leading provider of automatic cloud backup and critical data protection against ransomware, insider attacks and hackers for businesses and organisations worldwide.

Alvacomm

Alvacomm

Alvacomm offers holistic VIP cybersecurity services, providing comprehensive protection against cyber threats. Our solutions include risk assessment, threat detection, incident response.

CSI Consulting Services

CSI Consulting Services

Get Advice From The Experts: * Training * Penetration Testing * Data Governance * GDPR Compliance. Connecting you to the best in the business.

ManageEngine

ManageEngine

As the IT management division of Zoho Corporation, ManageEngine prioritizes flexible solutions that work for all businesses, regardless of size or budget.

Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS)

Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS)

The Cyber Centre is the single unified source of expert advice, guidance, services and support on cyber security for government, critical infrastructure, the private sector and the public.

CERT-PA

CERT-PA

CERT-PA is the national Computer Emergency Response Team for Italian government institutions.

Cobalt Strike

Cobalt Strike

Cobalt Strike is penetration testing software designed to execute targeted attacks.

GuidePoint Security

GuidePoint Security

GuidePoint Security provide information security solutions that enable commercial and federal organizations to more successfully achieve their security and business goals.

CyberSaint Security

CyberSaint Security

CyberSaint’s CyberStrong Platform empowers organizations to implement automated, intelligent cybersecurity compliance and risk management.

Bellvista Capital

Bellvista Capital

Bellvista Capital connects entrepreneurs with capital and unmatched business expertise in the technology areas of Cloud Computing, Cyber Security and Data Analytics.

drie

drie

drie is an end-to-end cloud services company based in Bahrain, Dubai and London. We enable businesses to adopt, scale on and build for cloud.

AgileBlue (Agile1)

AgileBlue (Agile1)

AgileBlue (formerly Agile1) is a managed breach detection company with an Autonomous SOC-as-a-Service for 24×7 monitoring, detection and guided response.

Acumera

Acumera

Acumera is a leader in managed network security, visibility and automation services.

Tidelift

Tidelift

Tidelift provides the tools, data, and strategies that help organizations assess risk and improve the health, security, and resilience of the open source used in their applications.

TrustCloud

TrustCloud

TrustCloud is a global company specializing in the orchestration and custody of secure digital transactions including identification, signature, payments, and electronic custody.

ProjectDiscovery

ProjectDiscovery

ProjectDiscovery is an open-source, cybersecurity company that builds a range of software for security engineers and developers.

HP Wolf Security

HP Wolf Security

HP Wolf Security protects your organization and devices from cyberattacks no matter where, when or how you work.

Rebellion Defense

Rebellion Defense

Rebellion Defense is a technology company developing advanced software to ensure mission-critical organizations stay ahead of emerging threats.

CyberGrape

CyberGrape

CyberGrape is a client centric managed services company, providing enterprise leading security solutions and helping companies through their IT risk and security challenges.

Command Zero

Command Zero

Command Zero is the industry’s first autonomous and AI-assisted cyber investigations platform, built to transform security operations in complex enterprise environments.