Hacking Team’s situation just got worse. Last Sunday, 400GB of documents, emails and source codes were stolen from the spyware firm and uploaded to the web. And now more than a million of Hacking Team’s emails have been published in a searchable library on WikiLeaks for anyone to scrutinize.
The culprits of the Hacking Team breach are still at large, but clues point to the involvement of Anonymous. WikiLeaks’ leaked emails show Hacking Team’s office in Milan was broken into by Anonymous in the past. The emails also reveal Hacking Team has worked against Anonymous on behalf of their clients for years.
Hacking Team said the breach means dangerous information, that was before “exclusively” provided to governments, is now in the hands of anyone who wants it. However, the spyware firm has a history of working with dangerous groups, like an abusive police unit in Bangladesh.
Hacking Team staffer Christian Pozzi took to Twitter and vehemently denied the authenticity of the leaked documents, urging readers to not take the disturbing data at face value. Pozzi’s account was eventually hacked and deleted.
Adobe has already issued a patch to fix a Flash vulnerability, which allowed hackers to acquire sensitive data.
Hacking Team notoriously works with governments to spy on people, businesses, organizations and fellow nations. It was unveiled the spyware company even worked with Sudan — which they previously denied — a nation that’s embargoed by the United Nations for human rights abuses. Their clients also include other contemptible nations like Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Oman. Naturally, clients also come from western powers including the United States, Germany, and Switzerland.
