Professional cyber spies have secrets spilled in major hack

Hackers have published a trove of sensitive documents purported to have been stolen from an Italian cyber vendor whose surveillance tech has been used by government agencies and police forces in repressive regimes, including those in Egypt and Sudan.

The data, first shared on the web on Sunday evening, is alleged to have been taken from the servers of Hacking Team—a Milan-based contractor whose spyware has previously been linked to campaigns that have targeted journalists and human rights activists the world over and subsequently drew ire from the United Nations.

Hacking Team’s official Twitter account was hijacked on Sunday and commandeered to direct followers to a cache of files totaling nearly 400 GB. The contents of that trove has since been revealed to contain internal emails and log-in credentials pertaining to the company’s employees, as well as lists of apparent clients and the proprietary source code for sophisticated spyware marketed by the firm.

Although Hacking Team has claimed previously that it’s “offensive technology” tools are “never sold to countries that international organizations including the European Union, NATO and the US have blacklisted,” stolen documents suggest Sudan’s National Intelligence Security Service was listed as an “active” customer in 2013, potentially running afoul of restrictions imposed by both the EU and UN. According to the same trove, leaked emails reveal that the UN was conducting an inquiry as recently as this year concerning Hacking Team’s purported deals with the north African nation.

According to a pilfered spreadsheet compromised in the hack, Hacking Team has maintained active contracts as recently as this year with agencies in Azerbaijan, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kazakstan, Mexico, Panama and Saudi Arabia.