Submission + - Amnesty releases anti-spying program for activists 1
mrspoonsi writes: Amnesty International has released a program that can spot spying software used by governments to monitor activists and political opponents. The Detekt software was needed as standard anti-virus programs often missed spying software, it said. Amnesty said many governments used sophisticated spying tools that could grab images from webcams or listen via microphones to monitor people. Karl Zetterlund, a senior researcher at security firm Sentor, said the needs of law enforcement were understandably different to those of the average cyberthief. "Criminals are mainly interested in information that can somehow generate money. Law enforcement spyware may only need to collect a few pieces of identifying information, such as a net address, from the computer," he said. "Generally, policeware may be better at hiding, as normal malware often aims for strength in numbers and spreading is more important than passing under the radar." There had also been cases in the past, he said, when computer security companies collaborated with governments to ignore spyware they found planted on machines.
