Head of Austria's domestic intelligence calls for stronger monitoring of cellphones

By Timur Kirez

GENEVA (AA) - The head of Austria's domestic intelligence agency DSN has called for better ways to access content from messenger services on cellphones.

While there is "no need for full access to a device" or so-called Trojans, only access to certain apps is needed, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner said in an interview with Der Standard, an Austrian daily, on Monday.

Haijawi-Pircher argued in the interview that almost no one uses normal voice telephony today, saying that religious extremists, right-wing extremists, criminals and other intelligence agencies use encrypted messengers such as Telegram, Signal or Whatsapp, he said.

"We don't have any more options there to listen in on these communications," he said.

According to the head of the intelligence agency, the other side always uses the current technical possibilities. "We have to be on par there. We are at the level of 2008," he added.

Haijawi-Pirchner is also concerned about the state-of-the-art weapons being used in the Ukraine war.

These weapons, when the war "hopefully will be over at some point," very likely end up in the wrong hands, namely those of organized crime and terrorism, he said.