Spyware, located by police, raising the activity of suspects' computers, said a group of hackers. The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection request an investigation.
German investigators deploy it does on computers and software capable of tracking any action in violation of federal law? It's the burning question asked since the weekend after the publication by a group of renowned European hackers, the "Chaos Computer Club," a detailed report on a program "cookie" which would have been located on hard drives suspects.
Already dubbed by the press the "Bundestrojaner", literally the "Federal Trojan", this application should theoretically allow to intercept telephone calls placed by software such as Skype, as decided by the Federal Constitutional Court in a verdict of February 2008. The use by the security forces is supposed to be reserved for cases where human life or safety of the state are threatened, and only after the green light of a judge.
According to the CCC, which was able to analyze a version of this software "submitted by an anonymous source," functions "Bundestrojaner" do not meet these strict limits. By analyzing its source code, hackers have discovered that the tool also allowed to record sounds from the microphone to activate the webcam archive keystrokes and even installing other programs remotely or evidence "falsified". In short, uses comparable to the Trojans handled by hackers.
According to the hackers, the software has other through. Thus, the control system is not encrypted, which could afford to divert the mission.
"The security level of this Trojan is comparable to choosing 1234 as the password," quips the CCC. Worse, the software communicates with a server located in the United States, to cover their tracks, which would pose a risk of diversion "incalculable."
A case about "very seriously" by the government In a country very sensitive to the protection of privacy, the case is already loud. The former Interior Minister Gerhart Baum, a member of the Liberal FPD, finds that the evidence presented by the CCC are "irrefutable." In opposition, a member of the oversight committee on intelligence, the SPD MP Michael Hartmann, said he would seek an investigation in the Bundestag.
Asked by Osnabrücker Neuen Zeitung, the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection, Peter Schaar, also wants a review of these spy software. On the government side, it ensures that the research of "Chaos Computer Club" are taken "very seriously".
This information "must be studied quickly and completely at all levels of the federal state, whether [the software] was used. It is very important that regional states also conduct their investigation and Chancellor Angela Merkel will keep under review their progress, "said a spokesman.
The Ministry of the Interior, it is argued, however, that the program in question, three years old, has never been used. And it also refers to the responsibility of each state, must comply with "technical and legal requirements" federal. In France, the law Loppsi 2 adopted earlier this year provides for the capture remote computer data through "cookies" in an investigation of organized crime, by order of a judge.
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