New Traces of Hacking Team in the Wild (welivesecurity.com) 19
Previously unreported samples of Hacking Team's infamous surveillance tool -- the Remote Control System (RCS) -- are in the wild, and have been detected by ESET systems in fourteen countries. From a report: Our analysis of the samples reveals evidence suggesting that Hacking Team's developers themselves are actively continuing the development of this spyware. Since being founded in 2003, the Italian spyware vendor Hacking Team gained notoriety for selling surveillance tools to governments and their agencies across the world. The capabilities of its flagship product, the Remote Control System (RCS), include extracting files from a targeted device, intercepting emails and instant messaging, as well as remotely activating a device's webcam and microphone. The company has been criticized for selling these capabilities to authoritarian governments -- an allegation it has consistently denied. When the tables turned in July 2015, with Hacking Team itself suffering a damaging hack, the reported use of RCS by oppressive regimes was confirmed. With 400GB of internal data -- including the once-secret list of customers, internal communications, and spyware source code -- leaked online, Hacking Team was forced to request its customers to suspend all use of RCS, and was left facing an uncertain future.
I fear Google more (Score:3, Interesting)
Every Android app has network access, Google doesn't even list it as a permission (because Google thinks thats somehow ok as a default).
Every app can request access to the files, i.e. access my file is somehow the same as access every file for every app.
Every app can request camera and mic access.
So that "ear bunnies app", you downloaded that puts the comic ears on your videos, it probably includes advertising libraries, which gain the same permissions, who in turn grab your contacts, files, location, everything they can get permission for, and sell your data to everyone they can for pennies.
My point is this:
The biggest threat to Hacking Teams Business, is Google, because Google's interests in surveillance drive Android, and Android's bogus security leaves all your data available to every app. They even added 'instant apps' from the carrier, literally it checks for little apps which can contain spyware every time you turn the screen on, downloads it, runs it.
Google's self interests have resulted in this.
Re: (Score:1)
Android OS used by smartphones is not a product. Users of those phones were.
If you don't agree with their terms, use or build your own phone OS or build a fork of Android.
I'll believe this when - (Score:3)
- I see the David Attenborough special.
Italy? (Score:3)
Can't the Mafia do something good for the community for a change? It's not like they have any qualms neutralizing threats to their business model, and, well, let's face it, this company is...