In the wake of a mega security violation at Hacking Team, the Italian surveil software company comprising hackers that provided tools to authorities, a fresh revelation exposes a chilling cyber-risk technique the ill-famed group had achieved.
The Hacking Team’s leaked e-mail database, made people by WikiLeaks, shows the development of a “robust hardware” (drone) that was capable of attacking computers and cellular devices with malware sent over Wifi networks.
“Cyberspace has no bounds. It’s not possible to from going, quit your goals. How will you keep pursuing them?” reads the description of the item. “What you require is a means to circumvent encryption, gather useful information out of any apparatus, and keep tracking your targets wherever they’re, even outside your tracking domain name.”
The merchandise apparently captured the attention of a representative of the Insitu, a subsidiary company of American Airlines business which produces unmanned drones of Boeing. The firms collaborated and assigned an engineer to construct a drone taking a mini computer loaded with code that was weaponised.
Both the firms revealed excitement within their early e-mail exchanges, but when Hacking Team realised legal issues, the dialogue began to wither.