An Israeli group has sold a Windows hacking tool, Microsoft said, shedding light on what has already become the business of selling widely used software hacking tools.
The company that developed this tool is called Candiru and had sold an exploit which enabled the penetration of Windows, one of the many intelligence products sold by it.
Security researchers have uncovered how Candiru hacking tools were spread around the world through various consumers and used to attack various civil society organizations, dissident groups and the media.
Candiru tools have been used in several countries around the world such as Iran, Lebanon, Spain or the UK according to the Citizen Lab report.
Microsoft addressed security issues used by Candiru tools on Tuesday through an update. Candiru tools have also been used to compromise the Chrome browser.
On Wednesday Google in a blog post said it had addressed security issues earlier this year.
Cyber arms dealers such as Candiru usually detect numerous security problems and by combining them together create exploits that hack users’ computers without their knowledge.
Such tools cost millions of dollars and are usually sold in the form of a subscription where the provider has to pay continuously if a party requests access to such tools. / PCWorld Albanian