- Jun 9, 2013
- 6,720
Bundestrojaner (Federal Trojan) malware be used against real-life targets, after authorities have been working on an updated version for the past months.
Bundestrojaner stands for "Federal Trojan," when translated from German. It is one of the first malware families ever created by a government and then deployed against its own citizens.
The Bundestrojaner 2011 scandal
The trojan found itself in the middle of a controversy in 2011 when the German-based Chaos Computer Club (CCC) discovered that Bundestrojaner, also known as R2D2, overstepped its bounds and included more spying capabilities than German authorities initially announced and what the German constitution allowed.
The first version of Bundestrojaner was supposed to allow police officers to tap into Internet and telephony communications, for the sole purpose of wiretapping communications, just like police have been wiretapping phone calls for decades.
CCC researchers showed that the trojan also included additional functionality that allowed German intelligence agencies to open a backdoor on infected computers, take screenshots, and record audio and video via the computer's camera and microphone, breaking a suspect's right to privacy.
Full Article. German Police Create a New Version of Bundestrojaner (Federal Trojan)
Bundestrojaner stands for "Federal Trojan," when translated from German. It is one of the first malware families ever created by a government and then deployed against its own citizens.
The Bundestrojaner 2011 scandal
The trojan found itself in the middle of a controversy in 2011 when the German-based Chaos Computer Club (CCC) discovered that Bundestrojaner, also known as R2D2, overstepped its bounds and included more spying capabilities than German authorities initially announced and what the German constitution allowed.
The first version of Bundestrojaner was supposed to allow police officers to tap into Internet and telephony communications, for the sole purpose of wiretapping communications, just like police have been wiretapping phone calls for decades.
CCC researchers showed that the trojan also included additional functionality that allowed German intelligence agencies to open a backdoor on infected computers, take screenshots, and record audio and video via the computer's camera and microphone, breaking a suspect's right to privacy.
Full Article. German Police Create a New Version of Bundestrojaner (Federal Trojan)
