FinFisher Spyware Designed For Police And Government Apparently Enters The Wild

"A couple of activists started receiving some emails with attachments that contain executables with the malware," explained Claudio Guarnieri, a security researcher with Rapid7, a Boston-based security company. "It turned out to be sample of the FinFisher toolkit, which is produced and sold by the Gamma Group in the United Kingdom. It's a full-featured trojan that is able to intercept Skype calls, intercept chat and intercept other forms of communication, as well. It can steal documents, take screenshots, take camera shots and send the data to a server. It's basically designed for surveillance by law enforcement and government."

The investigation points to servers and a number of different countries, all of which have reportedly denied use.

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Bloomberg News reports that the managing director of Gamma International has said that his company has not sold FinFisher spyware to Bahrain, and that the company is currently investigating whether the malware samples used in these incidents were stolen demonstration copies or acquired elsewhere.