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17th April 2024 Issue no. 701

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Metropolitan Police sued over phone malware purchase

Last spring, a hacker who had illicitly obtained data from malware/spyware company FlexiSpyshared some of it with Motherboard.

In the trove of customer data, it was discovered that one purchase was linked to an officer in the UK Metropolitan Police. FlexiSpy is powerful malware, capable of gathering communications from multiple messaging services, as well as providing GPS location, emails, and phone call records.

The purchase of this malware is questionable, considering it's regulated under the UK's Computer Misuse Act. The most obvious limitation of the malware is the fact that it requires physical access to targeted devices. But phones, tablets, and computers are seized all the time by law enforcement officers, and they're sometimes returned to their owners after being searched. Malware like this would allow officers to hitch a virtual ride on someone's phone or laptop, seeing everything they see.

Motherboard asked the Metro Police for more details on this spyware purchase. Unsurprisingly, the Police didn't want to talk about it.

28th February 2018