A new report by The Citizen Lab, a digital research laboratory at the University of Toronto has presented overwhelming evidence that FinSpy, a sophisticated spying software marketed to track criminals is being abused by governments and used against dissidents and human rights activists around the world.
The report focuses on the surveillance software that can remotely monitor webmail and social networks in real time as well as collect encrypted data and communications of unsuspecting targets.
Another remarkable thing about the FinSpy, Jean Marc Manach of OWNI notes, is that it can take control of any major operating system while none of the top 40 antivirus systems can recognize it.
The report caused Mozilla, the maker of the Firefox browser, to send a cease-and-desist letter to UK-based Gamma International, FinFisher’s parent company, because it says FinSpy “is designed to trick people into thinking it’s Mozilla Firefox.”
During the downfall of Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak, dissidents ransacking the offices of Egypt’s secret police discovered a contract from Gamma detailing a $380,000 license to run the software for five months.
The Citizen Lab report lays out how the surveillance tech has also been widely used to monitor activists and dissidents in Bahrain.
Here are the 36 countries that have been found to host FinFisher Command & Control Servers, to which the malware connects to harvest reams of data
FinFisher also offers a mobile version of its spying system so that authorities can spy on data and communications from mobile phones, even when encrypted. The Citizen Lab report reveals that governments are increasingly taking advantage of that reality.
Credit: Business Insider
