Three nongovernmental organizations and a digital rights platform from Germany this month sued the German company Finfisher, which develops and markets a spy program called "FinSpy", to export its software illegally to Turkey, according to the Turkish website "Ahval".
NGOs, including Reporters Without Borders in Germany and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, claim that the Munich-based company violated export laws by providing Turkey with programs without permission from the German government.
According to the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and other NGOs, the Turkish government used the program to create a fake version of the Turkish media outlet Adalat, which was used during 2017 protests against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to coordinate activists.
Users who have downloaded the fake Adalat app have also automatically installed FinSpy on their devices, giving spyware full access to data stored on the device, including location, chat and communications data.
According to Ahval, FinSpy has many capabilities that can completely undermine the privacy of individuals using their smart devices.
This application provided the opportunity for the Turkish government to hack information and pressure opposition figures.
By Alexander James
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