The governments of Venezuela and Uruguay were interested in the Italian software company Hacking Team, according to a document leaked by WikiLeaks.
CIO Latin America / Mario Augusto Beroes R.
Hacking Team is an Italian company that, as its name makes clear, is dedicated to creating programs of spying for governments and government agencies. The cost of an “average” installation of espionage can reach $ 750,000, depending on the software.
Its headquarters in Colombia was hacked by A group of cyber criminals who entered their system and published in internet more than 400 gigabytes of confidential company information. Internal Mail between members of the company, customer lists, countries and security agencies around the world have hired are part of the data flowing freely . the
Hacking Team network has a payroll of at least 50 people and has received capital of two Italian investment funds: Innogest and Finlombarda. has a program or software that could be spying emails, chats, Skype, WhatsApp, instant messaging and audio and video access to the web cam.
A story somewhat dark
The foundation of the company, according to data collected in various portals, dates back to 2001 when two Italian programmers, Alberto Ornaghi and Marco Valleri, published an open source tool call Ettercap, I was able to steal passwords, and even manipulate perform escuhas remotely one computer infected.
The popularity of Ettercap increased to the point that police called an exclusive program Milan, becoming the first official customer of the fledgling company adqurir their software.
The questions against Hacking Team began a couple of years ago when the Canadian university institute Citizen Lab publicly denounced sell this tool to governments questioned and using it as a tool for human rights violation. One of the cases documented were Sudan, Morocco, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates where they would have used to intercept mail and communications of journalists, activists and opponents. For this reason, the NGO Reporters Without Borders declared the company as “enemies of the internet”, to sell their services to oppressive states.
Over time Hacking Team began offering its services in Latin America . Sometimes directly and others through companies located in each country who acted as their ‘partners’ or representatives. Spain, Mexico, Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay and Paraguay are part of the list. In some of these places intelligence services, the police, the army, ministries and governorates bought the application of Hacking Team. But all this was revealed last week, thanks to the leaking of emails internal company.
What gives?
Hacking Team sold to governments Da Vinci and Galileo programs. The first is personalized, and can be used to pry into the lives of one or even 100,000 people at a time, but it all depends on the client’s budget. To get an idea, the cost of an “average” intelligence facility can reach $ 750,000.
The objectives are infected by phishing and other alternative methods, and once the software is installed, facilities espionage data arrives as email , chats Skype , WhatsApp , instant messaging and audio and video access to the web cam.
Da Vinci also offers access to hard disk computer. The software is virtually invisible because it is updated periodically to avoid being cleaned by the virus, and even more powerful than the controversial program Prism that developed the US NSA.
Although not much is known, Galileo seems to have fewer features of espionage and could be related to infection of mobile devices.
Hackeadores hacked
Last June it was reported that Hacking Team He had been hacked, in what seems an irony of fate. Offices in Bogotá, Colombia, were those that suffered the attack. More than 400 GB with customer data, passwords and other sensitive material was stolen from the company. On that occasion to the Twitter account of the company was violated, and placed screens screens with stolen data, the same that now broadcasts WikiLeaks.
The case Venezuela
Several cross information about the acquisition of software services Hacking Team by the Venezuelan government. So far they would be two public bodies, Conatel and the Interior Ministry, Justice and Peace, who really were interested in acquiring software programs or Italian company.
If the entity that governs telecommunications in the South American country, conversations through emails would have been carried out by order of the Director General William Castillo. However, the negotiations did not conclude anything because Conatel did not have the required amount in foreign currency to cancel software ; a total of $ 750,000 that was what I asked for the company to sell their product.
On the other hand, an official named Julio Ernesto Durán Malaver appears between Posts Hacking Team. The official, as reported by the “elcambur.com.ve” website had requested information on Da Vinci program, which offered the Italian company.
Durán Malaver, who has also held various positions in the Venezuelan government and official confidence is currently director of Saime, Dante Rivas said the July 14, 2013 that the Venezuelan government was keen to promote their software and contacted the director of Conatel, William Castillo to finance the purchase, buy in the end it does not materialize for lack of foreign exchange.
There is speculation that other agencies Venezuelan security have contacted the company, including the Directorate of Military Intelligence (Digesim) and the Ministry of Defense, however, did not go beyond exploratory talks, and did not reach any agreement.
The case Uruguay
The former president of Uruguay, Jose Mujica , he maintained contact in mid-2014 with representatives of the Italian business of electronic espionage Hacking Team and assessed hire its intelligence services, or software, say leaked by WikiLeaks and published in various media in the country.
A meeting between the then coordinator of the National Intelligence Directorate of the State, retired General Ramon Bonilla, and the current national police chief, Julio Guarteche, and company executives Hacking Team, recorded in vidceo by the latter, described the interest of the Uruguayan government.
The Post WikiLeaks disclosed that “the director (Police) was really pleased” with spying program submitted to him by members of Hacking Team.
The representatives of the Italian company also indicated that Uruguayan politicians were unaware “of other products of hacking,” which felt like “an advantage for us” .The Uruguayan government, however, had already acquired a year earlier and by secret purchase software known as electronic surveillance The Guardian, which will become operational this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment