Police Using Hacking Techniques to Watch Civilians

[From article]
Drawing on a cache of leaked documents and months of forensic work, two reports about the private Italian firm Hacking Team expose a global network of malicious software implants operated by police and spy agencies in dozens of countries.
[. . .]
Those precautions haven't prevented copies of Hacking Team's malicious software from being used to target more than 30 activists and journalists, according to a tally maintained by Citizen Lab, a research group based at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs.
Citizen Lab's report provided an unusual level of insight into how the malware operates, showing how devices can be compromised through booby-trapped emails or infected USB sticks, or even pushed onto handsets by a pliant telephone company.
[. . .]
"The victim's got almost no chances of figuring out that their iPhone is infected," said Kaspersky malware expert Sergey Golovanov, who investigated the rogue program for his firm.

http://news.yahoo.com/eyes-experts-reveal-police-hacking-155438514.html;_ylt=AwrBJR6_tKlTmmkA5w_QtDMD

Eyes on you: Experts reveal police hacking methods
Who's watching the watchers? Experts expose wide spying abilities of law enforcement hackers

By Raphael Satter

Associated Press
June 24, 2014