The journalist Erich Möchel leaked photos reported alleged NSA monitoring stations in Vienna which are used by the Intelligence to spy on UN.

Photos published by the journalist Erich Möchel in a blog post seems to confirm the presence of an NSA surveillance infrastructure, mentioned in the Snowden’s leaked documents “Vienna Annex”, in the attics of IZD Towers next to the UNO-City.

In the head of this film, the NSA “Vienna Station” and the “Vienna Annex” are explicitly mentioned. One of the acronyms that are listed right under “FORNSAT” must stand for the king waiting. Under “FORNSAT” are to be understood spy satellite stations which are not operated by the NSA itself.

According to the journalist the NSA has deployed a monitoring station in Vienna used for listening in on what’s happening at the UN complex, the structure in fact is not far from the UN headquarters.

The photos show a hut on the roof, which cannot be seen from the street, that is enclosed by solid steel bars and protected by a significant video surveillance system equipped with a ten cameras.

Möchel explains that the hut appears like “a maintenance building”, but speculates that it hides equipment used by the US intelligence to monitor mobile networks.

“Since the completion of the tower end of 2001, there resides the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. On the roof is located at a height of about 130 meters, the same structure as on the roof of the U.S. embassy in Vienna’s 9th district. In both cases, as “building maintenance” camouflaged house has a floor area of about 15 square meters. From the ground, it is virtually undetectable, because it is slightly offset behind the characteristic protrusion of the upper floors of the IZD Towers. The cottage is directly aimed at the building of the United Nations headquarters.” Möchel wrote.

He added that together with the US Embassy in Vienna’s 9th district and the ‘NSA villa’ in Pötzleinsdorf which is also assumed to be a listening post, the NSA could be spying on the whole city.

“The small bowl right in the picture is an ordinary satellite TV dish. Even it can draw a conclusion, namely that the entire Annex station is not connected to the UPC cable TV, standing in IZD Tower available.” states the journalist.

In the below image is visible in the top left an omnidirectional antenna:

“identical antennas can also be found on the roofs of other U.S. agencies. On the far right is a mobile phone mast.” states the post.

This antenna is used also for local communications, locating it on the roof of IZD Towers it is able to cover a wide area which includes the U.S. embassy in Vienna in 1090 and the so-called “NSA-Villa” in Pötzleinsdorf (18th district).

“From their location so forth exist between these three “points of presence” very good radio conditions.”

The building used by the NSA can hide an IMSI-Catcher, in my recent post I explained how use such devices to track cellphone on a global scale.

“An IMSI catcher (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) is device for telephony eavesdropping commonly used for intercepting mobile phone traffic and tracking movement of mobile phone users. Essentially, it operates as a bogus mobile cell tower between the target mobile phone and the service provider’s real towers. The IMSI catcher runs a Man In the Middle (MITM) attack that could not be detected by victims using commercial products.

The use of trackers based on exploitation of the SS7 protocol is recommended with “IMSI catchers,” in fact while SS7 tracker locate the victim the IMSI catchers can be deployed effectively.

StingRays are common surveillance devices that allow are able to intercept calls and Internet traffic, send fake texts, install malware on a phone, and of course find the precise location of the victim.” I wrote in my blog post on surveillance.

The journalist speculated that the roof of the tower is at 100 meters in a straight line with the United Nations headquarter, a privileged position to intercept communications with one of the numerous spy tools detailed in the NSA catalog
Last year the journalists Glenn Greenwald and Stefania Maurizi discovered similar structures also in Italy, and provided further information on the surveillance network that is extended to many other European cities, including Berlin and Milan. Below the image of the hut located in Rome.

In time I’m writing the US embassy declined to comment on the allegations, as did the Interior Ministry.

Pierluigi Paganini

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