LONDON — At a time when Western leaders are clamoring for greater powers to conduct covert surveillance, a prankster in Britain has turned the table on the watchers, securing a private cellphone number for a top intelligence chief and apparently making a separate phone call to the prime minister in his name, British officials acknowledged on Monday.
The unidentified caller then phoned a tabloid newspaper on Sunday to boast. He told the tabloid, The Sun, that he had been high on alcohol and drugs when he persuaded GCHQ, the British electronic surveillance agency, to give him a cellphone number for its director, Robert Hannigan.
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The episode came as Western spy chiefs are seeking greater powers to monitor social media sites and other Internet services to keep an eye on communications among terrorists after the attacks this month on a satirical newspaper, a police officer and a kosher supermarket in the Paris area.
The GCHQ website on Monday carried what it called a news article saying that the agency “announces the reissue of ’10 Steps to Cybersecurity,’ providing updated guidance on the practical steps that organizations can take to improve the security of their networks and the information carried on them.”
