Indian intelligence agencies seeking tech for mass phone tapping: WikiLeaks

timesofindia ^ | Jul 12, 2015, 01.33 AM IST

[BenLurkin]

[T]he Indian intelligence agencies could be looking to acquire know-how not just target-specific, but the ability to throw a sweeping net of surveillance over a large number mobile phones.

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This also means the agencies could be looking to side-step the need to get written permission of the Union home secretary before carrying out any interception. Every single case of telephone interception can be done only with the written permission of the home secretary at the Centre or his counterpart in a state.... ...

In an email sent to Maharashtra police, one of its senior officials claims that their solution, RCS (Remote Control System), can "attack, infect and monitor target PCs and smart phones, in a stealth way. It allows you to covertly collect data from the most common desktop operating systems, such as: Windows, OS X, Linux. Furthermore, Remote Control System can monitor all the modern smart phones: Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows phone. Once a target is infected, you can access all the information, including: Skype calls, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Line, Viber and many more-- device location, files, screenshots, microphone, virtual currencies and much more."

In a brochure for RCS, HT says, "You cannot stop your targets from moving. How can you keep chasing them? What you need is a way to bypass encryption, collect relevant data out of any device, and keep monitoring your targets wherever they are, even outside your monitoring domain. Remote Control System does exactly that. Take control of your targets and monitor them regardless of encryption and mobility. It doesn't matter if you are after an Android phone or a Windows computer: you can monitor all the devices. Remote Control System is invisible to the user, evades anti-virus and firewalls, and doesn't affect the devices' performance or battery life."

[Don Corleone]

Sub-Continental or American?