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According to a recent Belgacom study, undertaken in the wake of revelations of american eavesdropping, the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been recording international calls relayed by the Belgian operator since 2011. De Standaard notes that the disclosure is “extremely sensitive, notably from a political point of view, given that the state is the main shareholder in the company.” According to the newspaper, it appears that “the hackers were mainly interested in BICS [Belgacom International Carrier Services]”, a subsidiary which is —
… the main telecoms operator in Africa and the Middle East. Apparently, most of the communications recorded were with numbers in Yemen, Syria and other countries that the US considers to be rogue states.
Taking up a story reported by Spiegel Online on September 15, the newspaper notes that the NSA is also accused of spying on international payments.
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