Yet another government spyware maker has been caught after its customers used fake Android apps to install its surveillance software on targets, according to a new report.
On Thursday, Osservatorio Nessuno, an Italian digital rights organization that researches spyware, published a report on a new malware it calls Morpheus. The spyware, which masquerades as a phone updating app, is capable of stealing a broad range of data from an intended target’s device.
The researchers’ findings show that the demand for spyware by law enforcement and intelligence agencies is so high that there are a large number of companies providing this technology, some of whom operate outside of the public spotlight.
In this case, Osservatorio Nessuno concluded that the spyware is linked to IPS, an Italian company that has been operating for more than 30 years providing traditional so-called lawful interception technology, meaning tools used by governments to capture a person’s real-time communications that flow through the…