FinFisher

FinFisher, also known as FinSpy,^[1] is surveillance software marketed by Lench IT solutions PLC with a UK-based branch Gamma International Ltd in Andover, England, and a Germany-based branch Gamma International GmbH in Munich,^[2][3] which markets the spyware through law enforcement channels.^[1] Gamma International is a subsidiary of the Gamma Group, specializing in surveillance and monitoring, including equipment, software, and training services,^[2] reportedly owned by William Louthean Nelson through a shell corporation in the British Virgin Islands.^[4]

FinFisher can be covertly installed on targets' computers by exploiting security lapses in the

• FinFisher official site
• Gamma International official site
• FinFisher promotional brochure at WikiLeaks
• "The SmartPhone Who Loved Me: FinFisher Goes Mobile?"
• "The SmartPhone Who Loved Me: FinFisher Goes Mobile?" by Morgan Marquis-Boire and Bill Marczak

External links

References

• Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier (CIPAV)
• Duqu
• Flame (malware)
• Mahdi (malware)
• MiniPanzer and MegaPanzer
• NSA ANT catalog
• R2D2 (trojan)
• Stuxnet
• Tailored Access Operations
• Hacking Team

See also

Other security vendors claim that their products will block any spyware they know about and can detect (regardless of who may have launched it), and Eugene Kaspersky, head of IT security company Kaspersky Lab, stated, "We detect all malware regardless its purpose and origin".^[31]

According to announcements from ESET, FinFisher and FinSpy are detected by ESET antivirus software as "Win32/Belesak.D" trojan.^[29][30]

In an article of PC Magazine, Bill Marczak (member of Bahrain Watch and computer science PhD student at University of California, Berkeley doing research into FinFisher) said of FinSpy Mobile (Gamma's mobile spyware): "As we saw with respect to the desktop version of FinFisher, antivirus alone isn't enough, as it bypassed antivirus scans".^[28] The article's author Sara Yin, an analyst at PC Magazine, predicted that antivirus providers are likely to have updated their signatures to detect FinSpy Mobile.^[28]

Detection

FinFisher is capable of masquerading as other more legitimate programs, such as Mozilla Firefox. On April 30, 2013, Mozilla announced^[26] that they had sent Gamma a cease-and-desist letter for trademark infringement. Gamma had created an espionage program that was entitled firefox.exe and even provided a version number and trademark claims to appear to be legitimate Firefox software.^[27]

Firefox masquerading

^{[25][24][23][3]}[2] On 12 March 2013

Reporters Without Borders

• FinFisher's wide use by governments facing political resistance was reported in March 2011 after Egyptian protesters raided State Security Investigations Service and found letters from Gamma International UK Ltd., confirming that SSI had been using a trial version for five months.^[19]
• A similar report in August 2012 concerned e-mails received by Bahraini activists and passed on (via a ^[21] claimed that the leak of FinFisher data contained evidence suggesting that the Bahraini government was using the software to spy on opposition figures, highlighting communications between Gamma International support staff and a customer in Bahrain, and identifying a number of human rights lawyers, politicians, activists and journalists who had apparently been targeted.Bahrain Watch In August 2014 ^[20] A spokesman for Gamma claims no software was sold to Bahrain and that the software detected by the researchers was not a legitimate copy but perhaps a stolen, reverse-engineered or modified demonstration copy.^[16][1]
• According to a document dated 7 December 2012 from the Federal Ministry of the Interior to members of the Finance Committee of the German Parliament, the German "Bundesnachrichtendienst", the Federal Surveillance Agency, have licensed FinFisher/FinSpy, even though its legality in Germany is uncertain.^[22]
• In 2014, an America citizen sued the Ethiopian government for using FinSpy to recorded a vast array of activities conducted by users of the machine. Traces of the spyware inadvertently left on his computer show that information – including recordings of dozens of Skype phone calls – was surreptitiously sent to a secret control server located in Ethiopia and controlled by the Ethiopian government. FinSpy was downloaded on the plaintiff's computer when he opened an email with a Microsoft Word document attached. The attachment contained hidden malware that infected his computer.^[18]

Use by repressive regimes

FinFisher has also been found to engage in politically motivated targeting. In Ethiopia, for instance, photos of a political opposition group are used to "bait" and infect users.^[8]

In 2014, the Ethiopian government was found to have installed FinSpy on the computer of an American citizen via a fake email attachment that appeared to be a Microsoft Word document.^[18]

The security flaw in iTunes that FinFisher is reported to have exploited was first described in 2008 by security software commentator Brian Krebs.^[6][7][17] Apple did not patch the security flaw for more than three years, until November 2011. Apple officials have not offered an explanation as to why the flaw took so long to patch. Promotional videos used by the firm at trade shows which illustrate how to infect a computer with the surveillance suite were released by Wikileaks in December, 2011.^[3]

A security flaw in Apple's iTunes allowed unauthorized third parties to use iTunes online update procedures to install unauthorized programs.^[6][7] Gamma International offered presentations to government security officials at security software trade shows where they described how to covertly install the FinFisher spy software on suspects' computers using iTunes' update procedures.

FinFisher malware is installed in various ways, including fake software updates, emails with fake attachments, and security flaws in popular software. Sometimes the surveillance suite is installed after the target accepts installation of a fake update to commonly used software.^[5] Code which will install the malware has also been detected in emails.^[16] The software, which is designed to evade detection by antivirus software, has versions which work on mobile phones of all major brands.^[1]

Method of infection

The suite is marketed in Arabic, English, German, French, Portuguese, and Russian and offered worldwide at trade shows which offer intelligence support system, ISS, training and products to law enforcement and intelligence agencies.^[15]

In addition to spyware the FinFisher suite offered by Gamma to the intelligence community includes monitoring of ongoing developments and updating of solutions and techniques which complement those developed by intelligence agencies.^[12] The software suite, which the company calls "Remote Monitoring and Deployment Solutions" has the ability to take control of target computers and capture even encrypted data and communications. Using "enhanced remote deployment methods" it can install software on target computers.^[13] An "IT Intrusion Training Program" is offered which includes training in methods and techniques and in use of the company supplied software.^[14]

Elements of the FinFisher suite

On August 6, 2014, FinFisher source code, pricing, support history, and other related data were retrieved from the Gamma International internal network and made available on the Internet.^[11]

^[10] In 2014, an American citizen sued the Ethiopian government for the surreptitious downloading of FinSpy on his computer, which was used to wiretap his private Skype calls and monitoring his entire family’s every use of the computer for a period of months.^[9] reported they discovered a contract with Gamma International for €287,000 for a license to run the FinFisher software.Hosni Mubarak following the overthrow of Egyptian President Egypt's secret police dissidents who ransacked the offices of Egyptian [8]