Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Never Heard of FinSpy?

Hmmmmm.

...What they found was the widespread use of sophisticated, off-the-shelf computer espionage software by governments with questionable records on human rights. While the software is supposedly sold for use only in criminal investigations, the two came across evidence that it was being used to target political dissidents.

The software proved to be the stuff of a spy film: it can grab images of computer screens, record Skype chats, turn on cameras and microphones and log keystrokes. The two men said they discovered mobile versions of the spyware customized for all major mobile phones...

Nice.  It's also designed to evade all of the anti-virus software.

Here's what EFF has to say:

“This is dual-use equipment,” said Eva Galperin, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet civil liberties group. “If you sell it to a country that obeys the rule of law, they may use it for law enforcement. If you sell it to a country where the rule of law is not so strong, it will be used to monitor journalists and dissidents. 

Did I mention that the US is running this software?

Need I mention that the US Attorney General has.......ahhhhhh........*less* than a stellar record on civil rights?

HT:  Schneier

1 comment:

  1. Joseph McCarthy would be a kid in a candy store with this stuff.

    ReplyDelete