Zionists sold tools to hack Windows in Iran: Microsoft

Shedding light on the growing business of finding and selling tools to hack widely used software, Microsoft and technology human rights group Citizen Lab announced a zionist group sold a tool to hack into Microsoft Windows in Iran and some other countries, Reuters reported.

The hacking tool vendor, named Candiru, created and sold a software exploit that can penetrate Windows, one of many intelligence products sold by a secretive industry that finds flaws in common software platforms for their clients, said a report by Citizen Lab.

Technical analysis by security researchers details how Candiru's hacking tool spread around the globe to numerous unnamed customers, where it was then used to target various civil society organizations, including a Saudi dissident group and a left-leaning Indonesian news outlet, the reports by Citizen Lab and Microsoft show.

Attempts to reach Candiru for comment were unsuccessful.

Evidence of the exploit recovered by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) suggested it was deployed against users in several countries, including Iran, Lebanon, Spain, and the United Kingdom, according to the Citizen Lab report.

"Candiru's growing presence, and the use of its surveillance technology against global civil society, is a potent reminder that the mercenary spyware industry contains many players and is prone to widespread abuse," Citizen Lab said in its report.

Microsoft fixed the discovered flaws on Tuesday through a software update. Microsoft did not directly attribute the exploits to Candiru, instead referring to it as an "Israeli regime-based private sector offensive actor" under the codename Sourgum.

HJ/PR