The FBI can remotely activate laptop and Android microphones with spyware

The Feds are taking advantage of techniques more typically associated with malicious hackers to collect information on suspects, leveraging tools that can bring the traditional wiretap up to speed with the always-connected digital age.

Federal agencies usually do not disclose information about these capabilities, but recent court documents and interviews with program insiders reveal new details about hacking tools commonly used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to deliver spyware to phones and computers, reports the Wall Street Journal.

When a ‘simple’ wiretap isn’t enough, the FBI will use spyware under court orders to combat individuals who ‘go dark’ through the use of new technology and online chat programs that implement encryption to obfuscate communications, according to people familiar with the FBI programs.

Some of the tools are developed internally at the FBI, while others are contracted and purchased from the private sector. The software allows the Bureau to remotely activate microphones on Android smartphones and laptops, according to one former U.S. official. Both the FBI and Google declined to comment to the WSJ.

The report states that the FBI has been developing hacking tools for more than ten years, and typically uses them in cases involving organized crime, child pornography, and counterterrorism. According to a U.S. official, they are not used when investigating hacking cases for fear of discovery and public disclosure by the hacker.

Amid rampant allegations of government overreach through digital surveillance programs, news of the FBI using such tools is no surprise, but could be considered in a different league of snooping. Mark Eckenwiler, the Justice Department’s former primary authority on federal criminal surveillance law, says that a search warrant is required for every use of these tools, as well as to collect any data from a suspect’s computer or device.

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Pirate Bay co-founder can be extradited to Denmark to face hacking charges

A Swedish district court has ruled that Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg can be extradited to Denmark to face charges that he was involved in one of the country’s largest hacking attacks. What’s more, Warg must remain in custody until he can be transferred and will have restrictions placed on who he can have contact with.

In an e-mail to ComputerSweden magazine, district magistrate Jonas Alberg said the transfer must take place no later than five days after the ruling goes into effect. Whether or not the transfer will take place and when it will happen isn’t up to the district court. Instead, the state prosecutor must determine that in cooperation with Dutch authorities.

Warg and another unnamed Danish co-defendant were accused last month of hacking into the country’s social security database, driver’s license database, a shared IT system in the Schengen zone as well as accessing e-mail accounts and passwords of 10,000 tax officials and police officers. We’re hearing that the data was all managed by IT contractor CSC.

Theft of social security numbers could prove most problematic as Danish social security numbers also include an individual’s birthday as part of the string of numbers. This makes them difficult to reissue and potentially more valuable with regards to identity theft. There are already reports of similar data being sold on the black market although it is unrelated to this case.

If found guilty, the men could spend up to six years in prison.

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Law enforcement officials hope kill switches will deter phone theft

Law enforcement officials and consumer advocates have come together as part of a new initiative called Secure Our Smartphones. The goal here is to help to curb rising phone thefts by getting manufacturers and wireless carries on board with the idea of implementing a kill switch that would render stole phones useless.

While certain crimes are on the decline, those involving phones aren't. For example, 50 percent of robberies in San Francisco last year involved a handset. 20 percent of reported robberies during the same time frame in New York involved a phone which is a 40 percent increase over the previous year.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the technology for such a kill switch already exists but thus far, getting manufacturers and providers to go along with the idea hasn’t been successful. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon said he met with Apple a year ago about the idea but was told it wouldn’t happen.

Perhaps that’s because Apple was working on a kill switch of their own. Earlier this week, Apple unveiled a new feature that’ll be part of iOS 7 called Activation Lock. This security feature is said to prevent a thief from reactivating a phone as they would need to know your Apple ID and password. Even if they turn off Find My iPhone and wipe the handset, they still won’t be able to reactive it.

Schneiderman said he hoped to get a kill switch installed in phones as early as next year.

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