Controversial surveillance software company Hacking Team claims that a torrent that supposedly contains files stolen from its systems is infected with malware. The company's claim has been naturally ridiculed by independent security experts.
The files contained in the torrent are 400GB and contain e-mails from Hacking Team, source code, and many more. All the files are freely distributed on the internet via BitTorrent since Monday morning.
The torrent file also reportedly includes login credentials and passwords for the company's support sites in Egypt, Mexico, and Turkey.
So far, no one has taken responsibility for the breach and data leak.
Christian Pozzi, a Hacking Team technician, claims the leak of sensitive internal material contains a virus, which they added as an attempt to limit the damage.
“No, the torrent contains all the viruses you are selling, which we will patch,” said John Adams, a former Twitter security employee.
Pozzi denied that the company sells malware, and described their wares as “custom software solutions.”
Hacking Team managed to take control of its Twitter account, as it had also been compromised. The company's headquarters, however, appeared to continue having problems at the time of writing.
Hacking Team sells Da Vinci malware, a surveillance software, to governments and law enforcement agencies. Critics of the company claim that the technology is used by various countries to spy on activists and journalists.
The analysis of the leak is still ongoing, focusing on the client list catalogs of the company.
