South Korean spy agency admits hacking Gmail
South Korea's national spy agency has admitted that it monitored a Google Inc.'s Gmail account of a citizen accused of violating the national security law, a local newspaper reported Friday.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) received a court approval to monitor the Gmail account of Kim Hyung-geun, 52, to collect email evidences regarding his allegedly pro-North Korean activities, the Hankyoreh daily reported, citing a document filed with the Constitutional Court.
The NIS argued that "packet monitoring" of Kim's Gmail account was "inevitable" because local citizens evade investigations by seeking a so-called cyber exile in foreign email services, rendering search warrants ineffective, the agency wrote in the legal document. The court granted access to Kim's Gmail to the agency, according to Hankyoreh. The spy agency likely has the technical skills to monitor the stream of emails sent to and from Gmail accounts and glean information, the report added.
