Mozilla sends a cease and desist order
Contributed by: Email on 05/01/2013 11:08 AM
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Mozilla sent a cease and desist order to Gamma International, makers of FinFisher spyware. The University of Toronto's Citizen Lab reports that the Finspy component on a victims system masquerades as Mozilla Firefox. Binaries report themselves as "Firefox.exe" and carry properties that are associated with Firefox including version numbers and copyright and trademark claims that refer to "Firefox and Mozilla developers".
Mozilla's Alex Fowler, who leads on privacy and public policy for the organization, says that this deception is specifically trading on Mozilla's reputation of being trustworthy in 2012, for example, Mozilla was named "Most Trusted Internet Company for Privacy" in a Ponemon Institute study.
According to Citizen Lab, the software has turned up in spyware attacks on pro-democracy activists in Bahrain and has apparently been deployed in Malaysia where a General Election is taking place. The organization "Reporters without Borders" listed Gamma as one of five "Corporate Enemies of the Internet" in its recent surveillance report.
"Not only are these activities illegal, but we take them seriously because they are deceptive, harm users, cause consumer confusion, and jeopardize Mozillas reputation," says Fowler. It is currently unclear how Mozilla plans to legally progress if Gamma does not cease and desist, and there are few legal precedents which would inform how a case would progress from that point.
Mozilla's Alex Fowler, who leads on privacy and public policy for the organization, says that this deception is specifically trading on Mozilla's reputation of being trustworthy in 2012, for example, Mozilla was named "Most Trusted Internet Company for Privacy" in a Ponemon Institute study.
According to Citizen Lab, the software has turned up in spyware attacks on pro-democracy activists in Bahrain and has apparently been deployed in Malaysia where a General Election is taking place. The organization "Reporters without Borders" listed Gamma as one of five "Corporate Enemies of the Internet" in its recent surveillance report.
"Not only are these activities illegal, but we take them seriously because they are deceptive, harm users, cause consumer confusion, and jeopardize Mozillas reputation," says Fowler. It is currently unclear how Mozilla plans to legally progress if Gamma does not cease and desist, and there are few legal precedents which would inform how a case would progress from that point.
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