Company defends ‘lawful surveillance system’ exposed by hack

Italian company Hacking Team, the controversial seller of surveillance tools to the FBI and overseas repressive governments, vowed on Monday to push ahead despite a hack that has laid bare the company’s internal secrets, client lists and even the source code behind its powerful spying tools.

“We at Hacking Team are now dedicated to restoring the ability of law enforcement to fight crime hidden in the new encrypted digital world,” said a statement attributed to Hacking Team Chief Operating Officer David Vincenzetti.

{mosads}The company has been scrambling to deal with the fallout after hackers last week published documents that confirmed links between the Hacking Team, U.S. authorities and regimes with poor human rights records in countries like Sudan and Ethiopia.

Almost immediately, Hacking Team told its clients to shut down any use of their software. The leaked details showed how the program worked and which secret vulnerabilities it was exploiting to secretly scoop up people’s encrypted communications.

Security firm Trend Micro on Sunday uncovered yet another flaw the firm was taking advantage of.  

But on Monday, the firm said all details released about the software were now “obsolete.”

And it doubled down on its relationships with governments worldwide, despite reports that its software has been used to track journalists and political dissidents.

“The lawful surveillance system that Hacking Team has provided to law enforcement for more than a decade is critical to the work of preventing and investigating crime and terrorism,” Vincenzetti said. “Our technology has always been sold lawfully, and, when circumstances have changed, we have ended relationships with clients such as Sudan, Ethiopia and Russia.”

Vincenzetti claimed that come fall, Hacking Team will release a new version of its Remote Control Service software, also known as “Galileo,” which the FBI has spent $775,000 on since at least 2011.

“This is a total replacement for the existing ‘Galileo’ system, not simply an update,” Vincenzetti said. “Of course, it will include new elements to protect systems and data considering the impact of the attack against Hacking Team.”

The leaked documents, which WikiLeaks has thoroughly catalogued in a searchable database, also showed that Hacking Team has sold Galileo to the Drug Enforcement Agency and made overtures to a number of local U.S. law enforcement agencies.

Vincenzetti insisted the company’s work is invaluable to these government departments.

“Because of the increasing encryption of data transmitted over mobile devices and the Internet, this work has never been more critical than it is today,” he said. “Today’s Internet is a safe harbor for criminals such as those who attacked Hacking Team, but also for terrorists, sex traffickers, murderers, narcotics dealers and other wrong-doers.”

The U.S. government has not said whether it will cut ties with Hacking Team.

“The FBI cannot comment on specific tools or techniques utilized in criminal investigations,” said a bureau spokesperson. “That said the FBI routinely identifies, evaluates and tests potential exploits, including spyware, malware and other means of surreptitiously accessing electronic hardware and data in the interest of cybersecurity.”

— Updated 5:34 p.m.