14 DAY TRIAL // The relationship between Australia and Indonesia is about to suffer again as more information from the Snowden files surfaces. According to new reports, Australia’s efforts to infiltrate Indonesia’s networks in order to collect data are more widespread than originally thought.
The New York Times writes that a set of files from Edward Snowden details just how close of a relationship there is between the National Security Agency and the Australian Signals Directorate.
The ASD offered the NSA data obtained by spying on an American law firm representing Indonesia in trade disputes with the United States, effectively giving the US insider information about the country’s plans.
The file is dated back to February 2013 and includes details about communications between Indonesian officials and the law firm, despite the fact that the conversations were most likely covered by attorney-client privilege.
Although the name of the firm is not mentioned, well-known law firm Mayer Brown, based in Chicago, was advising the Indonesian government on trade issues at the time.
A lawyer involved in trade talks says that there’s been no evidence so far that he or his firm were targeted by the spy agency. However, he does admit that he always wondered if someone was listening, “because you would have to be an idiot not to wonder in this day and age.”
Furthermore, the ASD has accessed bulk call data from Indosat, the Indonesian domestic satellite telco. The trove of information obtained in this manner covered government officials and ministries.
The intelligence agency also told the NSA that it had obtained some 1.8 million encrypted master keys, which were used to protect private telecommunications in the Telkomsel Mobile telephone network. Moreover, it developed a way to decrypt almost all of them.
Last year, it was revealed that the same Australian Signals Directorate had been trying to spy on top Indonesian officials, including the country’s president, his wife and other government members.