The Police Security Service (PST) informs news. He was arrested and charged at the weekend for engaging in so-called signals intelligence, or eavesdropping. He pleads not guilty. It is unclear who the man is said to have conducted intelligence on behalf of and whether it was on behalf of a state actor. – We must have several hypotheses open in such cases. In recent years, for example when it comes to mobile telephony and Wi-Fi, we have seen that criminal actors and private security firms also have the capacity for signals intelligence, says section leader Atle Tangen in PST to news. Signal intelligence is about intercepting electronic signals and is usually associated with foreign intelligence activities that intercept, for example, radio signals, satellites and cables, says Tangen. – The PST and the police also do this when, according to the court order, we can listen in on mobile phones and computers, he says. In the ruling, it appears that the 25-year-old probably did not operate alone, and that it is likely that there are more people involved in the case. – I think that a young student alone hardly has the resources needed to carry out what we believe he has carried out, said police attorney Thomas Fredrik Blom in PST to news. – Can work for Russia or China Ola Kaldager, former head of the secret Norwegian intelligence group E14, believes that Russia and China are the countries most interested in what goes on in the government quarter. – They want to see what kind of attitudes Norway has towards the Ukraine war, and what is being discussed internally when it comes to the deployment of NATO forces on Norwegian soil at any time, says Kaldager to news. In the threat assessment for 2023, PST also points out that the Ukraine war has fundamentally changed the relationship between Russia and Western countries, including Norway. And that this affects the threat from Russian intelligence services in Norway. In an e-mail to news, the Chinese embassy responds as follows: – Some people have spared no effort in spreading rumors about so-called spies from China and Chinese intelligence activities, without presenting any material evidence. – China has no interest in the aforementioned information. What we are really interested in is how we can improve mutual understanding through communication, and how we can benefit our two peoples through cooperation, they write. The 25-year-old is a Malaysian citizen, but PST emphasizes that there is no suspicion that Malaysia is behind it. Tip news’s crime group: Do you have information about this case or other crime cases? Contact news’s crime group. You can tip us off by e-mail or through news’s encrypted notification service. Here you can tip us anonymously. We also treat all tips confidentially, in line with the Vær varsom poster’s rules on source protection.
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