Brazil reinforces data security after new spying allegations

Criado em 07/10/13 19h56 e atualizado em 07/10/13 19h59
Por Pedro Peduzzi, Danilo Macedo and Carolina Gonçalves Edição:s Fonte:Agência Brasil

Brasília – Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (“MME”) has also been made a victim of the monitoring scheme carried out by foreign agencies, including the Communications Security Establishment Canada, who allegedly intercepted communications from computers, landlines, and cell phones in the ministry. According to a news report on Fantástico (a program on Globo TV, Brazil’s biggest television network) broadcast on Sunday (October 6), out of every four large mining companies in the world, three are based in Canada, a country which, according to the minister of Mines and Energy, Edison Lobão, has special interest in Brazil’s mining industry. The MME declared that the spying scheme “suggests the attempt to collect strategic information related to areas within the work of the ministry.”

President Dilma Rousseff, who was also a target of the American spying scheme, wrote on her page on Twitter that she trusts the MME’s data security system, but demanded from minister Edison Lobão a “rigorous” assessment, and the reinforcement of these security systems. In her view, the allegations confirm the economic and strategic reasons behind the acts of the Canadian intelligence agency. “The news report [on Globo] shows Canada’s interest in the mining area,” she wrote.

Rousseff further announced that the Ministry of Foreign Relations will ask the Canadian government for clarifications. “The espionage goes against the sovereignty of the nations and the privacy of people and companies,” she wrote. The president also pointed out that Edward Snowden (the first to make the allegations on the US monitoring scheme) had been working for only three months in the company contracted by the NSA, and was nevertheless granted access to all the files that served as the source of all the allegations made so far.

According to the president, it can be inferred that all the data from the NSA are accessed by the five government mentioned in the allegations: the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and that thousands of contracted companies also have access to them. “The US and their allies should urgently put an end to their spying acts once and for all,” the president wrote. “It is unacceptable among countries that intend to be partners. We despise cybernetic warfare.”

On Monday (October 7), minister Edison Lobão said he finds the facts described by the allegations “regrettable” , but added that the country is already taking measures to address the issue. “As for my ministry, our system is good and reliable. But we’ll have to improve more and more from now on, so they won’t keep interfering,” said the minister.

In his view, the government is assessing the losses that may have been caused by the espionage. “We’re in the process of evaluation, so we can know how deep all this goes.” According to the minister, the public auctions were not monitored because their rules are clear and transparent.

A Congressional Committee of Investigation has been called by the Senate and is investigating the spying allegations. The head of the committee, Vanessa Grazziotin, said that her team has solid material in their hands. “We’ll manage to get details of these interceptions and how the monitoring is being done.” According to her, although the finding is “scary”, everyone knew of its existence. The government expects proposals to be brought forward by the committee in December as a response to the spying scheme and also for the creation of mechanisms to protect Brazil’s information systems.

Editors: Davi Oliveira / Olga Bardawil
Translators: Fabrício Ferreira