[liberationtech] New Citizen Lab report on Hacking Team's Government Surveillance Malware

[Rich Kulawiec]

I skimmed this earlier today and plan to read it in depth later: it looks
like superb work.

The most disturbing thing about it is the realization that this can't
possibly be the only such project.  Surely there are others.  Many others.

And since there are others, it's necessary to ask: are any of them
"better" than this one, i.e., more capable, more stealthy, etc.?
After all, it would be rather extraordinary if these researchers
just happened to come across the best one.  (Sort of like walking
into the jungle and presuming that the first lion you meet happens
to be the fiercest.  Possible, yes...but unlikely.)

Therefore we must entertain the hypothesis that these capabilities may
represent a floor rather than a ceiling.   And that, as I said above,
is disturbing.

---rsk