Firefox Brand Used To Cover Spyware

Mozilla isn’t too happy about it.

According to a report by Citizen Lab, Gamma International, a UK based firm that produces surveillance software (FinFisher), is tricking people into installing their spyware on their machines, which is later masked as Firefox.exe.

As noted in the Mozilla’s blog post, “when a user examines the installed spyware on his/her machine by viewing its properties, Gamma misrepresents its program as “Firefox.exe” and includes the properties associated with Firefox along with a version number and copyright and trademark claims attributed to “Firefox and Mozilla Developers.”

As a result, Mozilla has sent a cease and desist letter, demanding Gamma to stop these illegal practices immediately.

ArsTechnica also reports that the countries where Citizen Lab identified FinFisher command and control servers are all over the world, including Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ethiopia, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.

But it’s okay, just ask CISPA supporters.

[Thanks, Shane]