Gamma Group is an Anglo-German technology company that sells
surveillance software to
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
s and
police force
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
s around the world. The company has been strongly criticised by
human rights organisation A human rights group, or human rights organization, is a non-governmental organization which advocates for human rights through identification of their violation, collecting incident data, its analysis and publication, promotion of public awareness ...
s for selling its
FinFisher
FinFisher, also known as FinSpy, is surveillance software marketed by Lench IT Solutions plc, which markets the spyware through law enforcement channels.
FinFisher can be covertly installed on targets' computers by exploiting security lapses in t ...
software to undemocratic regimes such as
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
and
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
.
Following the
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econo ...
protests in 2011, activists from Bahrain identified suspicious emails which were identified as
social engineering attempts to persuade them to launch applications containing malicious software. The emails were passed to analysts who identified
malware which would give FinFisher access to the infected computers.
The
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
's CitizenLab conducted an investigation of Gamma which identified "33 likely government users of FinFisher in 32 countries, based on the presence of a FinFisher master at an IP address in a country or belonging to a specific government department."
In 2014, Gamma Group was
hacked by a hacker calling herself
Phineas Fisher
Phineas Fisher (also known as Phineas Phisher, Subcowmandante Marcos) is an unidentified hacktivist and self-proclaimed anarchist revolutionary. Notable hacks include the surveillance company Gamma International, Hacking Team, the Sindicat D ...
and a 40 Gigabyte dump of information was released detailing Gamma's 'client lists, price lists, source code, details about the effectiveness of FinFisher malware, user and support documentation, a list of classes/tutorials, and much more.' Further details about Gamma's capabilities can be found in the Surveillance Industry Index.
Despite this hack and the extent of negative publicity about Gamma's activities, FinFisher was reported to be gaining in popularity around the world with numerous governments.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Hacking in the 2010s
Spyware companies
Espionage scandals and incidents