Police ‘did not buy spying software,’ says Wong Sio Chak

Wong Sio Chak

The Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak, has stated that Macau police forces have not acquired surveillance software from Italian IT company Hacking Team.
Emails disclosed last month by WikiLeaks showed that the Commission Against Corruption and Macau’s Judiciary Police had expressed an interest in acquiring the cyber-surveillance software.
“I can say right here and now that we have not purchased any of the new technology tools for computer or smartphone surveillance,” the secretary said. Nevertheless, Mr Wong reiterated that police are required to be up-to-date when dealing with investigative technologies. “Why do people say we have cooperation with these new technology companies? We have to tell them [technology firms] we might buy it in order to attend the exhibitions and to get to know the new technology. (…) What if people need help in a phone hacking case? We still need to know how to investigate and find the suspect. So it is necessary for the police force to know such technology.”
He therefore stressed that police agents and senior officials are obliged to comply with the law when carrying out investigations, and that it was “impossible for the police to acquire any unlawful products.” The secretary acknowledged that Hacking Team “is 100 percent illegal” and added that many jurisdictions around the world allow police to buy such products.
“If the law allowed us to use it, of course we would buy it and use it,” he added.
Emails exchanged between Hacking Team employees in Singapore and Macau’s security forces show no clear evidence that the CCAC or the PJ succeeded in acquiring the software. However, an email sent by a PJ member requests assistance in installing the system.
Hacking Team fell victim to a cyber-attack last month. Hackers breached the company’s servers, downloading over 400 gigabytes of its data. WikiLeaks released over a million of Hacking Team’s emails.
Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was also found to have sought the company’s services. Hacking Team is well known for selling software to governments that enable them to carry out surveillance operations of citizens’ computers and mobile phones.