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From http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=22966

"one of the most respected hacker groups -- Germany's Chaos Computer Club (CCC) -- appears to have caught German officials red-handed in a scheme that gives German authorities the tools necessary to conduct intrusive surveillance of their citizens, all while obfuscating the government's involvement."

"The CCC claims it is designed to go far beyond simple wiretapping allowing sweeping, and possibly illegal surveillance capabilities. Specifically the CCC says that the software is capable of logging keystrokes, activating webcams, monitoring internet browsing, and sending complex usage profiles to government officials."

"Writes the CCC, "We were surprised and shocked by the lack of even elementary security in the code. Any attacker could assume control of a computer infiltrated by the German law enforcement authorities. The security level this trojan leaves the infected systems in is comparable to it setting all passwords to '1234'."

Interesting read, though not very surprising. Now where did I leave my tinfoil hat (and why did I take it off) ?

This is interesting, especially for the paranoid like me.

Its funny how Germany is known for its stringent internet privacy laws, yet they do this. Hypocrisy at its finest.

Most laptops now days come with a webcam built in. This is something i've always seen as a security concern, so the first thing I do when I buy a new laptop is fill in the lens with permanent black ink marker . If I ever need one I'll just get one that plugs into USB.

Hahah so cool. Them love to listen to their Citizens.

Yes sorry, it is beyond imagination them do such things.
Did the CCC tells us how we can find out if the Germans
are listening to us Swedes too?

nooby wrote:Did the CCC tells us how we can find out if the Germans
are listening to us Swedes too?

It seems, that there were only some cases, where the software was used.
It is a trojan horse, that first must be placed somehow on the computer of the victim. The usual way ist to send him emails and to force him to click on a link in it, to download/activate the program.

So it is a "individual" approach, no mass survey. So there is almost no risk, that you were observed in sweden.

The trojan horse currently just works on windows 32 bit systems according to the company that created it for the german government.

Today the news are full of articles about the issue, and the police and the corresponding ministers have confirmed to temporarily stop the usage, until it was clarified, if the usage is covered by our contitution.

There already was a statement of one of our constitution lawyers, that in the current form the software contradicts to our constitution.
Modifications are required, that massively reduce the functionality. This already was stated some years ago officially by judges as a guideline for the development of such programs, but the police simply ignored it. As this ignorance becomes a massive political scandal now, there are quite some chances, that in future the usage will be controlled more carefully.

It is only allowed to monitor special actions on a computer in case of terror suspicion. It is not allowed to be able modify the observed computer, as it is possible with the current version of the program (e.g. upload own fotos on that machine).

Mark

Mu thanks for sharing that info. Very interesting.
Here in Sweden many years ago them wanted to control
all political Left actions so them did a listen to the activists
and it was a great scandal when it got known. A secret part of the Military
seemed to have spied on Finland and Balticum and so on.

Most likely them shared it with the Americans and maybe the Brittish Mi5 or something.

One taboo still is how many Swedes that was helping the East Germany Stazi. Could have been rather many but the Gov don't want us to know.

So most likely them don't want us to know this thing happening either.

I mean if the Swedes have similar things going on them don't want us to get curious on if we also have it.

Yes having physical access to the computer makes it most easy but luring one to look at an ad for a cheap computer to buy can be a good way to lure someone too.