Freshly leaked e-mails from the hack on Hacking Team shows that the surveillance company was in communication with a member of the former South African Revenue Service (SARS) rogue spy unit.<\/p>\n
Towards the end of 2014, the Sunday Times outed a secret intelligence unit inside SARS which the paper said \u201cbecame a law unto itself\u201d.<\/p>\n
Later, during May 2015, the Sunday Times went on to report<\/a><\/strong> that two former members of the rogue unit, Helgard Lombard and Johan de Waal, submitted affidavits to Hawks investigators admitting to spying on the National Prosecuting Authority.<\/p>\n Among the details revealed in affidavits given by SARS employees\u00a0was that the former Directorate of Special Operations, better known as the Scorpions, paid Lombard sums of R900,000 and R250,000 to buy surveillance equipment.<\/p>\n This money was used to buy \u201covert and concealed cameras with digital video recorders and microphones\u201d that could be activated remotely and \u201cremote viewing software to be used with cellular telephones\u201d.<\/p>\n It has now emerged in e-mails published on WikiLeaks<\/a><\/strong> that Lombard was in contact with Hacking Team last year (24 June 2014) to request information about \u201csmartphone infections\u201d.<\/p>\n The e-mail leak comes courtesy of a hacker who goes by \u201cPhineas Fisher\u201d, or @GammaGroupPR<\/a><\/strong> on Twitter, who hacked Gamma International and did a similar tell-all in 2014.<\/p>\n Gamma International is also linked to the rogue SARS spying unit, as Carte Blanche reported in February 2015 that it used surveillance software called FinFisher to spy on the computer activities of its targets.<\/p>\n FinFisher and Gamma\u2019s links to South Africa are well documented<\/strong><\/a>, with earlier WikiLeaks releases and a report from Citizen Lab indicating that the software was in use on the ADSL network.<\/p>\n These new revelations from Phineas Fisher\u2019s latest hack shows that SARS\u2019 covert intelligence unit was looking to extend its capabilities as recently as last year.<\/p>\n Lombard was responding to an e-mail from the Hacking Team informing him that the company would be at the Intelligence Support Systems conference in Johannesburg:<\/p>\n Massimiliano,<\/p>\n I will appreciate it if you could send me information regarding the smartphone infections. The information must be as comprehensive as possible, e.g. is it necessary to \u201cRoot\u201d Android smartphones, can the infection be concealed in a MMS, etc. I would also want to know what the minimum quantity licenses would be that we have to acquire and what the annual maintenance fee word be for updates, etc.<\/p>\n Thank you in anticipation.<\/p>\n Best regards.<\/p>\n Helgard Lombard<\/strong> He received the following response from Massimiliano Luppi, an account manager at Hacking Team:<\/p>\n Hello Sir,<\/p>\n thank you for your mail.<\/p>\n Please consider that all this information are usually shared with you during a meeting at your premises.<\/p>\n During such meeting we\u2019ll be able to demonstrate you all our solution features and capabilities, both with a live demo and also on your devices.<\/p>\n Attached to this email you\u2019ll find a mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement that I kindly ask you to sign due to the nature of the information we are going to share.<\/p>\n I would be more than happy to evaluate with you the possibility to meet in South Africa for a live demo as mentioned above.<\/p>\n Best regards,<\/p>\n Massimiliano Luppi HackingTeam SARS was asked whether it bought software from Hacking Team or Gamma International, and whether it has retained its surveillance capabilities.<\/p>\n No spokesperson for SARS responded to our requests for comment.<\/p>\n Signal jamming not Parliament\u2019s fault<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Secret SARS unit spied on cellphones<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Big Brother\u2019 spying in South Africa exposed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n SA spies can\u2019t keep their own secrets safe<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n
\nManager : Technical Physical Security
\nAnti Corruption and Security
\n(Technical Investigations Operational Support)l
\nSouth African Revenue Service<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nKey Account Manager<\/p>\n
\nMilan Singapore Washington DC<\/p><\/blockquote>\nMore on government spying in South Africa<\/h3>\n