Bloggers will now have to be careful on what they post if a recent revelation by whistle blower WikiLeaks is anything to go by. WikiLeaks have releases some emails that show that the National Intelligence Service has purchased a software that will be able to crack websites from a controversial Italian based company, Hacking Team. This software boasts of the ability to intercept private communication, and bring down offensive websites deemed offensive by the government.
WikiLeaks is an online whistle blower platform that largely focused on exposing governments and corporates engaging in misconduct globally.
The Hacking team which is has its headquarters in Milan, Italy has for a long while being facing critiscm for its violation on privacy.
To test the efficacy of the system, NIS
had on May 6 emailed Hacking Team
to bring down Kahawa Tungu, a
website associated with controversial
blogger Robert Alai “as a great proof”
of the company’s capability.
“There is a website we would wish
you urgently bring down, either by
defacement or by making it
completely inaccessible… Please let
me know if this is possible, and how
soon you can have it done,” the NIS
operative tells the Hacking Team
representative.
Additionally, the system would
enable the NIS to access documents
from target computers even if they
have not been sent to another device
through the internet. It would also
monitor the social networks of
targeted people without them
knowing.
The NIS agent was introduced to the
hacking company by an executive
director of a Nairobi-based
communication solutions provider
who also sells pay TV services and
was working as an intermediary for
the NIS and Hacking Team since
October last year.
“I herein this mail copy (NIS agent)
who works with the National
Intelligence Agency in Kenya
particularly in the department that
requires your solution,” he says in an
email sent on October 29 last year.
In an e-mail on May 6, the NIS agent
appears convinced by the system’s
capabilities, commenting that “all
looks great and we would wish to
move forward”.
WikiLeaks has released more than
one million emails involving Hacking
Team and affecting many countries.
Some of the company’s customers
include Sudan, Saudi Arabia, UAE,
Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt, India,
Russia and the USA, among others