What is phone hacking?
6. For the purposes of this inquiry, we have
interpreted the term 'hacking' to mean the gaining of unauthorised
direct access to a remotely stored mobile telephone communication.
'Hacking' is thus distinct from 'bugging' or 'tapping', which
involves the use of a device to intercept a communication in real
time. Related to hacking is 'blagging', which we understand to
mean the process by which a person obtains information—such
as a mobile telephone number and/or a personal identification
number (PIN)—which enables access to the stored messages.
Blagging involves impersonation of a person who is entitled to
know the information. In this Report, we use the term 'hacking'
to include 'blagging.'
7. It is not always necessary to blag in order
to hack. Many mobile phone users do not reset the default PINs
supplied by service providers. If a hacker already knows the number
of the mobile telephone number he or she intends to hack, it may
be possible to gain access to messages by using one of the common
default PINs. There are also sophisticated and commercially available
programmes (some of them illegal in the UK) which can provide
access to communications as well as to stored messages, without
the phone-owner's knowledge. However, diligent adherence to the
security advice made available by providers to users can mitigate
vulnerabilities and greatly reduce the ease with which unauthorised
access can occur. Despite this, it is worth noting that users
who access voicemail from abroad can be particularly vulnerable
to hacking.[5]
8. There are obvious similarities between hacking
and the gaining of unauthorised access to written communications—which
as well as interception of mail might include going through the
contents of a dustbin. However, the ability of a hacker to gain
access to messages remotely means that analogies between the two
are not straightforward. In practice, hacking may often be easier
to carry out than interception of written communications.
9. Hacking is said to be carried out by journalists,
private investigators and others, for a variety of purposes. The
allegations which have led to our inquiry relate to activities
allegedly carried out by or on behalf of journalists, in order
to obtain information of interest to them or to those who pay
them. In this Report, for the reasons given above, we are not
concerned with the truth or otherwise of those allegations. We
confine ourselves to a discussion of whether and if so in what
circumstances hacking of Members' mobile phones could be a contempt
of Parliament.
5 We are grateful to the Parliamentary Security Coordinator
for briefing us on technical aspects of our inquiry. Back
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