TORONTO – Italian surveillance company Hacking Team received a taste of its own medicine this week after falling victim to a cyberattack that resulted in over 400GB of internal data posted online.
The company, known for selling malicious spyware to police and spy agencies, confirmed the hack Monday after a spokesperson urged clients to stop using the spyware while the company determines what information was exposed in the leaks.
The firm’s headache began late Sunday, when its Twitter account was apparently hijacked and began posting screenshots of what were said to be internal company emails and details of secret deals with various world governments.
According to The Verge, one tweet appeared to show an email from Hacking Team CEO David Vincenzetti mocking a competitor for being “severely hacked.”
At the same time a file with over 400GB worth of data was leaked online.
Hacking Team has been widely scrutinized for its malware, after it was discovered the software was being used to target a series of journalists and activists.
According to a report by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, the company targeted malware into YouTube and Microsoft’s Live services to track targeted individual’s online activities.
It’s not yet clear who is behind the cyberattack on Hacking Team. The company’s website remained offline Tuesday.
– With files from The Associated Press
- Ontario First Nation calls for chemical plant to be shut down amid ‘dangerously high’ benzene levels
- Nova Scotia scraps spring bear hunt idea, public ‘very divided’ on issue
- Ottawa looks to launch national flood insurance program within 12 months
- Alberta, coal lobbyists talked for years about more open-pit mining in the Rockies: documents
Comments