‘FinFisher’ Offices in Munich Raided by Police as Investigation Begins

guest · Oct 15, 2020

‘FinFisher’ Offices in Munich Raided by Police as Investigation Begins
Legally, the firm would have to secure an export license to share the state spyware with others
October 14, 2020
https://www.technadu.com/finfisher-offices-munich-raided-police-investigation-begins/218215/

The Munich offices of ‘FinFisher,’ also known as ‘FinSpy,’ have been raided by law enforcement authorities as part of an investigation launched against it.

The company is suspected of having exported state Trojan software without the authorization to do so, which is a criminal offense. The official complaint that sparked the investigation is co-signed by the Society for Freedom Rights, Reporters Without Borders, and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.

The Federal Office for Economics and Export Control has confirmed that they have not approved a relevant software exportation since 2015, so if FinFisher GmbH is found guilty of doing that, they will find themselves in serious trouble for violations of the Foreign Trade Act.
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The Germans have embraced the capabilities of FinFisher’s “complete spying solutions,” trying to embroider them into the country’s internet services and do so within a legal context. However, seeing these tools deployed elsewhere in the world cannot be ignored by the local authorities, as this is illegal if done without a special license.

FinFisher has officially denied the above – like, for example, the deployment of its tool in Turkey.
As Konstantin von Notz, deputy faction leader of the Green Party in the Bundestag stated, even if FinFisher is proved innocent in court, Germany should end its cooperation with companies that could be deliberately circumventing existing controls [...]
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ZDNet: German authorities raid FinFisher offices

Raids took place last week at 15 locations in Germany and at a connected company in Romania
The raids are part of an investigation that began last year after a complaint [PDF] filed by Netzpolitik with Munich prosecutors in the summer of 2019. Other signatories on the complaint included advocacy groups such as the Society for Freedom Rights, Reporters Without Borders, and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.

FinFisher markets its tools as meant for law enforcement investigations and intelligence agencies. Known customers include the German federal police and Berlin police.
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German news agency Tagesschau, which first reported the raids today, claims FinFisher had been using satellite companies in other countries to evade Germany's stricter export restrictions on surveillance software.
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