Cuban official media accuses U.S. of preparing SMS-based “cyberwar”

HAVANA, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) — Cuba accused on Monday the United States of “preparing a spam SMS cyberwar” with the Caribbean island nation to disrupt SMS service to over 1 million Cuban mobile phone users, said the country’s official website Cubadebate in an article.

“The U.S. government hired a telecommunication company from Maryland to design a computer system capable of sending 24,000 text messages weekly to the mobile phone users in Cuba,” said Cubadebate.

It said Washington Software Company, Inc. plans to design a text messaging system that can’t be blocked by the Cuban telecommunication company even if it contains “messages against the country.”

Cubadebate also said the operation is “in clear violation of Cuban laws and international agreements.”

Shortly after officially taking over power in 2008, Cuban leader Raul Castro allowed ordinary Cubans to use mobile phones, a service which used to be open only to some government agencies and foreigners in Cuba.

Presently, more than 1.2 million Cubans own mobile phones, accounting for roughly 10 percent of the population.

via Cuban official media accuses U.S. of preparing SMS-based “cyberwar”.