The Italian company for the development and distribution of spyware and hacking tools Hacking Team - especially law enforcement agencies and government services in general - was breached over the weekend.
Even the hackers they can be hacked.
A spyware and malware provider in government agencies was hacked by hackers who seem to have the bulk, if not all, corporate data of the company.
After hacking the company's Twitter account, Hacking Team, a Milan-based company, was open and everyone could download data stored on its server. On Sunday night, several tweets proved the broad attack on the company's systems, exposing some of its dealings with various governments.
Hackers, whose identities are not yet known, published a torrent containing archives over 400GB. The leaked data includes emails and company financial information.
The Italian company develops surveillance technologies for governments and the private sector. The names and companies have never been officially revealed. The company develops spyware and malware that can penetrate a range of platforms.
The United States and the UK often work with businesses such as Hacking Team for technology support. The company also allegedly supports some repressive regimes.
Some of the documents show that the company has its services in countries such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Oman, Lebanon and Egypt.
A tweet posted on Sunday by Eva Galperin, a global political analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, published a list of countries that are said to be customers of the Italian company. The list includes Morocco, Panama Mexico, but also Australia, Germany and the United States.
The company had reported that it had never sold spyware and malware in Sudan, but files leaked from company systems show exactly the opposite.
In a file it appears that the company invoiced the government of Sudan worth €480.000 for "remote controlled" systems.
