Italian intel steals sensitive info from Indian embassy

Moscow, Jul 30: Sensitive defence information appears to have been stolen from the Indian embassy here by an Italian intelligence agency during the past two years, according to a media report.

If the documents released by international hackers' group are to be believed, the Italian cyber police - National Anti-Crime Computer Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection (CNAIPIC) - was widely hacking Indian embassy's letters with Russian defence firms, the Izvestia daily said.

Anonymous Hackers for AntiSec operation, an international group campaigning against security agencies and governments, had on July 26 put online a set of documents allegedly hacked from the Italian cyber police server, which include the letters between the Indian embassy's Air Wing and a local company supplying spares for military aircraft.

Izvestia said Italian cyber police had hacked on June 22, 2010 Deputy Air Attache D S Shekhavat's correspondence with Aviazapchast, a company specialising in the supply of aviation spares, complaining about delays in the shipment of 15 helicopter engines.

A reply from the Aviazapchast representative in India written on the same day was also hacked by the CNAIPIC.

The Italian cyber police had also accessed correspondence of the aircraft engine manufacturer NPO Saturn and Ilyushin Aircraft with the Indian embassy in Moscow and the Air Headquarters in New Delhi.

Indian embassy's Counsellor Information Nutan Kapur Mahawar had no comments to offer on the report.

PTI