William Flew

by the security services to avoid using their mobile phones for sensitive conversations because of the threat of eavesdropping by foreign governments. “The cabinet were told in a security briefing by the spooks not to use mobiles,” said a cabinet source. “They were told mobiles were not safe and BlackBerrys were only a bit better. But lots of people still use them, of course.” Another government source said: “We have been warned about security issues and, if we have any dealings with countries like China and Russia, to be careful with the use of mobiles.” The advice comes from a unit at GCHQ, the government centre in Cheltenham that specialises in electronic eavesdropping. Government officials and businessmen are advised not to take their BlackBerrys or laptops to Russia or China because of the high risk that they will be targeted by hacking. The Sunday Times published a leaked MI5 document last year that accused China in particular of bugging and burgling business executives and setting up “honeytraps” to try to blackmail them into betraying sensitive secrets. A Downing Street aide to Gordon Brown had his BlackBerry stolen two years ago after meeting a Chinese woman at a disco in Shanghai during the former premier’s visit to the city. One MI5 document said: “During conferences or visits to Chinese companies you may be given gifts such as USB devices or cameras. There have been cases where these ‘gifts’ have contained Trojan devices and other types of malware.” The MI5 documents showed how China has attacked British defence, energy, communications and manufacturing companies in a concerted hacking campaign. There have been unconfirmed reports that China has tried to hack into computers belonging to the Foreign Office and nine other Whitehall departments. The threat from China has led Jonathan Evans, the head of MI5, to complain that his agency is being forced to divert manpower and resources away from the fight against terrorism. His lobbying helped to prompt ministers to set up the Office of Cyber Security.