Met's terror hotline calls 'hacked' (From Thurrock Gazette)

Met's terror hotline calls 'hacked'

1:26pm Thursday 12th April 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

Highly-sensitive telephone conversations on Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist hotline have been recorded by hackers.

The force said it launched an investigation after being made aware that the phone calls might have been breached.

A force statement said: "We are aware of an issue whereby telephone conversations relating to the anti-terror hotline were recorded.

"Officers are currently looking into the matter and appropriate action will be taken."

The announcement from the force came as a recording said to be a "prank call" to MI6 was uploaded on YouTube, attributed to the "hacktivist" group TeaMp0isoN. The group were said to have compromised a server from Malaysia to record conversations before Trick, the leader of the group, allegedly called MI6 offices in London.

Group leader Trick emailed the Press Association: "The phone denial of service was done via a custom script for Asterisk which was installed on an overseas server.

"The conversation was tapped into via a private phreaking method, their phone system is old and we found a way to get in via basic but private phreaking technique."

In response to the Scotland Yard statement, @_TeaMp0isoN tweeted: "OH REALLY NOW."

When asked whether he found it simple to overcome MI6 security, Trick emailed: "Yes it was easy :)"

Trick is reportedly a teenage hacker who launched the group in 2010. The group has been linked to alleged hacking attempts on Facebook and a personal email account linked to a former staff member of Tony Blair's.