[ISN] Defence officer discloses 'sensitive info' to fake caller

From: InfoSec News <alerts_at_private>
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:21:41 -0500 (CDT)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Defence-officer-discloses-sensitive-info-to-fake-caller/articleshow/5063466.cms

By Rajat Pandit
The Times of India
28 September 2009

NEW DELHI: Believe it or not, a person apparently managed to extract 
some ``sensitive information'' from a senior military officer over the 
telephone by posing as a joint secretary in the defence ministry.

Thrown into a tizzy by this recent audacious espionage bid, a diktat has 
now been issued in the defence ministry as well as the Army, Navy and 
IAF HQs, which forbids all officers from discussing ``top-secret, secret 
or confidential'' matters on phone.

"All communications are vulnerable to interception. Security of 
information is, therefore, of paramount importance in the Defence HQ 
security zone,'' says the ominous security alert, issued by South 
Block's chief security officer on September 16.

The alert specifies that the person who made the telephone call was ``an 
official from a foreign embassy'' but does not name the country. 
Sources, however, said Pakistan was the primary suspect.

The entire episode began with the embassy official calling up the 
landline of a senior IAF officer at Air HQ here. Identifying himself as 
the joint secretary (air) in MoD with effortless elan, he sought some 
specific classified information.

[...]


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Received on Wed Sep 30 2009 - 01:21:41 PDT

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