German police using trojans

Germany's police and secret services are pushing for a legal basis for "online house searches" – carried out without the knowledge of suspects, using spyware similar to a Trojan. How often German law enforcers have tried to infect the PCs of suspects with Trojans is unclear.

Influential German hacker organisation The Chaos Computer Club published a statement pointing to the possible consequences of successful infection with a Federal Trojan. "The whole PC could be telecommanded, the webcam turned on, and the room surveilled acoustically, email and chat conversion could be followed." However, the hackers are skeptical about the real danger posed by the spyware, and dryly recommend that "a well managed firewall and anti-virus software should take care of governmental or private spyware".

[If they can access your hard drive, can they also plant "evidence"?]

Read the article HERE.