There have been rumors for years about the FBI remotely installing spyware via e-mail or by exploiting an operating system vulnerability from afar — and now there's confirmation. Last month, the FBI obtained a federal court order to remotely install spyware called CIPAV (Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier) to find out who was behind a MySpace account linked to bomb threats sent to a high school near Olympia, Wash. The story is here: http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9746451-7.html I've posted the FBI affidavit, which is interesting reading, and a summary of the CIPAV results that the FBI sent back to a magistrate judge, here: http://politechbot.com/docs/fbi.cipav.sanders.affidavit.071607.pdf http://politechbot.com/docs/fbi.cipav.sanders.search.warrant.071607.pdf Here's a Slashdot thread: http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/18/1434229 Wired's article on CIPAV notes that the FBI's 2008 budget request includes $220,000 to "purchase highly specialized equipment and technical tools used for covert (and) overt search and seizure forensic operations... This funding will allow the technology challenges (sic) including bypass, defeat or compromise of computer systems": http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2007/07/fbi_spyware All this is quite timely given our discussion yesterday about security firms detecting spyware: http://www.politechbot.com/2007/07/17/correction-on-security/ -Declan _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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