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CAB silent on the remote control of computers and phones

Responding to the Helsinki Foundation’s query about whether or not the Central Anti-corruption Bureau uses the Remote Control System software, the Bureau said that the HFHR’s question should be deemed a request for information on the applicable law and as such remains outside the scope of the Access to Public Information Act. The Foundation asked the same question of the Internal Security Agency. On 27 March 2014 the ISA responded that it did not use the Remote Control System software.

Published: April 17, 2014

The RCS is capable of monitoring computers and telephones and may acquire data stored on such devices even if a user is offline. The system can also be used to track online correspondence. The RCS may copy files from a computer’s hard drive, record Skype conversations, intercept passwords entered in a browser and remotely turn on a web camera or a computer’s microphone.

The scientists affiliated with The Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory operating at the University of Toronto, Canada, published on 14 February 2014 a report titled “Mapping Hacking Team’s ‘Untraceable’ Spyware”, which analysed the use of the RCS. The report reads that the system is offered for sale to governments by Hacking Team, a Milan-based company. The document names twenty-one governments, including those of Azerbaijan, Columbia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Hungary, Turkey, Morocco as well as Poland.

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Poland – Warsaw

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