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Spies Caught Spying On Spies Via Spyware
Jason Lee Miller
Staff Writer
2008-09-17
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There's been a bit of an uproar in Hungary over some spyware installed on computers at the country's national security office.
 | | Spies Caught Spying On Spies Via Spyware |  |
Usually you don't hear much about real life government spy operations, which is why we love the clandestine movements of the Jason Bourne and James Bond characters, but this time it made the newspaper. Instead of the government spying on another government, though, it's a private security firm spying on the government.
It's pretty standard corruption fare, nothing you wouldn't see in a Francis Ford Coppola or Martin Scorsese movie: A wealthy, powerful business man suspects he's being tailed by the feds, so he enlists some local techies to spy on the feds right back.
Sophos' Graham Cluley enlisted an employee to translate the Hungarian newspaper article. (Google has yet to add Hungarian to its Translate service.) The powerful businessman, Sandor Csanyi, is thought to have hired a private security firm to install spyware on computers at the Hungarian equivalent of MI5.
Kind of a gutsy move, if you ask me. The spyware was discovered and traced back to the security firm UD Vagyonvedelmi. There is even supposed to be audio of the security firm boss and Csanyi discussing their plans. The head of the security firm denies it is him on the CD, of course.
Word of advice: It's not a good idea to spy on the spies. It is a good idea to install spyware protection, though. At least the Hungary government covert operations seem more adept at fighting suspicious, amorphous enemies than the British West Midlands Police, who've been raiding houses trying to get back a memory stick they lost with all the terrorists' names on it.
About the Author:
Jason is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. He covers business, technology, and security issues.
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