What we know about the FBI's CIPAV spyware

StonyandCher writes: What is CIPAV? CIPAV, which stands for "Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier," is secret surveillance software that the FBI used last month to help identify whoever was e-mailing bomb threats almost daily to a Washington high school. The software collects a wide range of information from the target PC and sends it back to control — in this case, the FBI — and automatically records every outbound communication, though not the contents of said communication. If that sounds like a bot, well. ...

An affidavit by an FBI agent last month revealed some of the workings of CIPAV. In this article, Computerworld attempts to dissect CIPAV's purpose and raises a number of questions such as: What happens to the data the CIPAV collects? Does the CIPAV capture keystrokes? Can the CIPAV spread on its own to other computers, either purposefully or by accident? Does it erase itself after its job is done?