Senator asks US government watchdog to review how feds use hacking tools
Senator Ron Wyden has asked the U.S. government's federal watchdog to conduct a comprehensive review of how the FBI, DEA, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations, and the Secret Service deploy hacking tools and spyware against Americans.
Why this matters: Four federal agencies are using hacking tools and spyware on Americans, and there is apparently no full public accounting of how, how often, or against whom. That is not a small gap. Spyware can reach everything on a phone — messages, contacts, location, microphone. Wyden is asking someone to at least look at the books. That should have happened before the tools were deployed, not after years of use.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity
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