http://www.blacklistednews.com/The_FBI_and_DEA_and_the_US_ARMY_have_bought_software_that_takes_over_your_computer_remotely/44951/0/38/38/Y/M.html
The FBI and DEA and the US ARMY have bought software that takes over your computer remotely
Published: July 7, 2015
Source: The Intercept
The leaked emails
show that the FBI has been using Hacking Team’s software
since 2011, apparently for the secretive
Remote Operations Unit. It’s long been reported that the FBI has deployed malware in investigations, but details on the agency’s efforts are thin, with the tactic only surfacing rarely in court cases — such as one instance last year when the FBI
spoofedan Associated Press article to get a target to click on a link. The FBI
reportedly develops its own malware and also buys pre-packaged products, but the relationship with Hacking Team has not been previously confirmed.
The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Army have all bought controversial software that allows users to take remote control of suspects’ computers, recording their calls, emails, keystrokes and even activating their cameras, according to internal documents hacked from the software’s Italian manufacturer.
The company, Hacking Team, has also been aggressively marketing the software to other U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, demonstrating their products to district attorneys in New York,
San Bernardino, California, and
Maricopa, Arizona; and multi-agency task forces like the
Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation in Florida and California’s
Regional Enforcement Allied Computer Team. (We do not use this product nor are we currently considering a proposal from the vendor/manufacturer to purchase it,” Jerry Cobb, a spokesperson for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said.)
The company was also in conversation with various other agencies, including the CIA, the Pentagon’s
Criminal Investigative Service, the
New York Police Department, and
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
The revelations come from hundreds of gigabytes of company information, including emails and financial records, which were released online Sunday night and analyzed by The Intercept. Milan-based Hacking Team is one of a handful of companies that
sell off-the-shelf spyware for hundreds of thousands of euros — a price point accessible to smaller countries and large police forces. Hacking Team has drawn fire from human rights and privacy activists who contend that the company’s aggressive malware, known as Remote Control System, or RCS, is being sold to countries that deploy it against activists, political opponents and journalists.
Even in the U.S., where the software would presumably be used only with a judge’s approval, the tactic is still controversial. Just last month, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, [url=https://www.grassley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/judiciary/upload/FBI%2C 06-12-15%2C use of spyware letter.pdf]
wrote[/url]
to the director of the FBI asking for “more specific information about the FBI’s current use of spyware,” in order for the Senate Judiciary Committee to evaluate “serious privacy concerns.”Read More... at Link Above