British Cops Hack Into Government Computers

CmdrGravy writes "The British Police have hacked into Government computers as part of the on-going 'cash for peerages' investigation. They've uncovered evidence which has, so far, led to one arrest and charge of perverting the course of justice for a leading Labour party figure. This charge carries a potential life sentence. The British police have the power to hack into computer systems as part of an investigation. On previous occasions they have said they did not believe the government was providing them with the information they had been asking for and had warned that they would seek other methods to gather evidence. The police won't say what tools they have used. From the article: 'The investigators did not have to notify No 10 if they were "hacking" into its system. One legal expert said: "In some cases, a senior officer can give permission. In other cases, you might need the authorization of an independent commissioner, who is usually a retired judge appointed by the Home Office."'"

get some of your own

[Byzboy]

The British government is reaping what it has sown. Often the most dangerous people are the well-intentioned few who know no bounds when it comes to implementing things for our own good. To them the ends always justify the means. The government has given the police the power to search almost anything in almost any way they see fit so of they go biting the hand that feeds them.

Must end have run out of cliches.

Re:What's wrong with the UK?

[thetroll123]

>If the police can do it, I'll bet your kid's lunch money that your teenage neighbor can as well.

Well, there is the matter of physical access, of course. Lots of police working in Downing Street and other government and party premises on - ostensibly - security/protection duties etc. I'd like to see your "teenage neighbor" stroll in there and connect up a PC...

Re:What's wrong with the UK?

[Dr Caleb]

"If the police can do it, I'll bet your kid's lunch money that your teenage neighbor can as well."

You seem to underestimate British Police. You probabally shouldn't.

"They are probably using pretty basic hacking methods to hack into government computers. "

Who was it cracked Enigma without a computer again? And they probabally have the best tools available.

Re:What's wrong with the UK?

[Lord_Slepnir]

I don't like making assumptions, but I do believe that the British police are part of the British Government. Odds are they have access to some systems inside the Government network that commoners don't, and could leverage that to get access to what they wanted.

What is meant by "hacking"?

[seanyboy]

I'm guessing that the "hacking" that is being described is actually a standard analysis of the hard drive after the computer has been taken by the police as evidence. There's nothing unusual in this at all. They'll be looking for deleted files and examining the disk on a sector by sector basis. The Government (or a stupid journalist) is defining this as "Hacking" when in fact it's what the police do with all seized computers.

Re:Curiosity

[Anonymous Coward]

So, I know next to nothing about legal systems outside of the USA. In the US the police would need a warrent (I am goign with the bassis of our laws, not the mockery that is today).

You do realise that the basis of your laws is English Common Law?

Perhaps now they will understand

[benhaha]

That the escalation in the UK's police powers has gone too far.

Re:Why am I not surprised?

[kentrel]

Is it just me, or is my country going to the dogs? Or is it just that there is no such thing as an honest politician?

Maybe it's your Chicken Little attitude, and your tarring of all politicians with the same brush. No-one was charged or convicted with anything here, yet you've already jumped on a bandwagon and declared them guilty. Even if they are guilty that doesn't mean there aren't many more local politicians and MPs, etc who are really trying to make life better for their constituants.

In a democratic society the politicans are the employees of the people. They are a reflection of the people's own strengths and weaknesses. If an employee in your company is suspected of stealing you don't declare all of your employees to be thieves, or would you? Politics is no different even if you're of the opinion that you're helpless and can do nothing.

The fact that the police have no problem going to these measures to investigate possible criminal actions within the government is a sign that this country is far from "going to the dogs", and is exactly how a democratic country should be run, where the politicians live in fear of the people's disapproval, and not the other way around. I'm not afraid of anyone in Parliament - are you? We put them there, we can get rid of them. If they break the law, we'll deal with them. That's democracy.

Re:Curiosity

[redalien]

The parent is most probably right. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIP Act) is a fairly new law that allows the parts of the government to do all sorts of horrible things to people, such as 6 months for forgetting your PGP key.

Just one of my fav'rite net things..

Re:What is meant by "hacking"?

[matt4077]

If you'd RTFA, you'd notice they're talking about "remote accessing of computers", which is exactly what the term hacking usually refers to. And no, don't even bother to explain the difference between hacking and cracking.

Re:We don't have 'cops', we have 'police officers'

[Anonymous Coward]

And then we can send you to a shari'a tribunal and afterwards watch the video of your beheading on YouTube.

That would be cool.

Re:What's wrong with the UK?

[jeremyp]

That's not a more accurate answer.

The Poles originally cracked three rotor Enigma.

The Germans made it more secure (by adding two new rotors so the daily key used three rotors from five).

The Poles realised they didn't have the resources to crack Enigma anymore and handed everything over to the British.

The British (esp. Alan Turing) enhanced the cracking methods including building an electro-mechanical device called a "bombe" to help with the key cracking (NB, the Polish also had such a device, but the British version was much improved).

The German Navy used a four rotor enigma and much stricter key generation protocols such that for much of the war it could only be cracked by capturing daily keys from u-boats etc.

Colossus, the first electronic programmable computer, was built to crack a completely different cipher called Lorenz. Alan Turing had very little to do with that. NB, I'm fairly sure Colossus was not Turing complete. The engineer who designed Colossus was Tommy Flowers.

Re:That's no diff from American separation of powe

[InadequateCamel]

Resigned before anything could be done? If he committed a crime, it shouldn't matter that he quit the job first.

I'm not proposing that the British system is the paragon of integrity relative to the American system, but that's probably the best example you can give of the police correcting corrupt government behaviour, and it didn't work. Bush sends thousands of Americans to their deaths overseas, but the entire American political system sits on their hands.

But lie about a blowjob, and...

Re:lol

[Anonymous Coward]

At least cash for peerages doesn't hurt anyone, unlike the US favourite, cash for post invasion oil rights.

Re:lol

[nickco3]

In the UK, each police force is monitored by a committee of local representatives called a Police Authority. Their role is to ensure effective, efficient and fair policing for their area.

Complaints are handled by the Independent Police Complaints Commission which is fully independent with its own investigators. Seats on the commission are not open to former police officers.

There are lots of things wrong with the way things are run in Britain, but policing isn't one of them.

An old joke makes that observation. In European heaven, the chefs are French, the engineers are German, the Italians are the lovers, the British are the police and it's all run by the Swiss. In European hell, the French are the engineers, the Germans are the police, the British are the chefs, the Swiss are the lovers, and it's all run by the Italians.