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Microsoft reveals: Israeli "Kandero" is behind the “Windows” hack
Microsoft and technology rights group Citizen Lab said Thursday that an
Israeli group had sold a tool to hack the Microsoft Windows operating
system.
This is a development that highlights the increasing efforts to find and
sell widely used software hacking tools.
According to a report issued by the "Citizen Lab" group, the Israeli hacking
device vendor "Kandero" designed and sold the program that can infiltrate
and infiltrate the Windows system.
According to Reuters, this product is among several intelligence products
sold through a clandestine sector that finds vulnerabilities in software
platforms commonly used by its clients.
Two reports from the group and from Microsoft added that security
researchers conducted a technical analysis and concluded in detail how the
tool sold by Candero was able to spread around the world to many unknown
clients and then was used to target various civil society organizations.
Attempts to contact Kanderu for comment were unsuccessful.
The Citizen Lab report stated that evidence Microsoft has collected of
hacking and exploitation of this tool indicates that it has been used
against users from several countries, including Lebanon, Spain and Britain.
"Kanderu's growing presence and use of his surveillance techniques against
global civil society is a clear reminder that the mercenary spyware sector
includes many players and is open to widespread abuse," the report said.
On Tuesday, Microsoft fixed the vulnerabilities it discovered through a
software update.
The company did not mention "Kanderu" directly, but instead referred to a
"hostile entity in the private sector based in Israel" under the name
"Sorgam".
"Surgam generally sells cyber weapons that enable its customers, typically
government agencies around the world, to infiltrate their target devices
such as computers, phones, infrastructure networks and Internet-connected
devices," Microsoft said in a blog post.