Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., revealed on Thursday that Apple Inc. and Android mobile devices in Italy and Kazakhstan were spied on by Italian Spyware using hacking tools manufactured in Italy. The story claims that tools to eavesdrop on the private messages and contacts of the targeted devices were developed by the Milan-based RCS Lab, whose website identifies European law enforcement agencies as clients.
With more businesses manufacturing intercepting technology for law enforcement, the worldwide spyware market is growing.
Anti-surveillance campaigners accuse them of assisting governments, which in some circumstances employ such instruments to suppress human and civil rights.
Google’s findings on RCS Lab come as European and American regulators consider additional restrictions on the selling and import of spyware.
“These vendors are enabling the proliferation of dangerous hacking tools and arming governments that would not be able to develop these capabilities in-house,” Google mentioned.
Source: indianexpress.com
Apple, as well as the governments of Italy and Kazakhstan, did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
RCS Lab claims that its products and services conform with European regulations and help law enforcement organizations in their investigations.
“RCS Lab workers are not exposed, nor do they participate in any activities conducted by the relevant customers,” the company told Reuters in an email, adding that any misuse of its goods was unacceptable.
Source: gadgets360.com
Google claimed to have taken security measures to safeguard Android users and to have made them aware of the spyware.
The global spyware market for governments is expanding, with more and more companies developing intercepting tools for law enforcement agencies. Anti-surveillance campaigners accuse them of assisting governments that, in some situations, utilize such tools to repress human and civil rights.
The Israeli spy agency NSO’s Pegasus malware, which was used by multiple nations to spy on journalists, activists, and dissidents, brought the industry into the public eye in recent years.
Bill Marczak, a security researcher at Citizen Lab, claims that although RCS Lab’s application isn’t as stealthy as Pegasus, it can still read messages and view passwords. He added, “This shows that even though these devices are ubiquitous, there’s still a long way to go in securing them against these powerful attacks,”
Source: indianexpress.com
RCS Lab presents itself as a supplier of “lawful interception” equipment and services, including voice, data collection, and “tracking devices,” on its website. It states that it can find 10,000 targets every day in only Europe.
According to Google researchers, RCS Lab previously collaborated with the contentious, now-defunct Italian Spyware firm Hacking Team, which also created surveillance software for foreign agencies to hack into phones and computers. After being the target of a large hack in 2015 that led to the disclosure of numerous internal documents, Hacking Team filed for bankruptcy.
Billy Leonard, a senior researcher at Google, claims that in some instances, Google implied that it believed hackers using RCS spyware worked along with the target’s ISP, suggesting connections to actors with government backing.
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