GOS Systems, the UK-based provider of surveillance and secure communications systems, has experienced a turbulent year. Their story is a case study in what can go wrong when a good company is taken over by an outsider with zero experience in the industry. The long and the short of it: While GOS Systems was making the rounds of international ISS events presenting its DIAL … [Read more...]
What the Ability-Cambridge Capital Merger Means: A Hook in the StingRay
Yesterday Ability, an Israeli-based provider of mobile location/interception solutions -- primarily IMSI catchers -- merged with Cambridge Capital Acquisition Corporation (CCAC) for US $192 million in stock and cash. As merger announcements go, this one was unusual in several respects: ● The mergers follows -- by one week -- the announcement of the U.S. Department of … [Read more...]
Wintego: Catching Criminals and Terrorists Off Guard on Wi-Fi
C5IS reviews Israel’s Wintego, an up-and-coming provider of malware for cracking target devices on Wi-Fi, GSM and ISP networks. For law enforcement and intelligence agents trying to track targets on the move, Wi-Fi networks are often portrayed as the boogeyman. The common theme: Going off-network and onto Wi-Fi in a coffee shop or airport terminal is not just a great way to … [Read more...]
Tactical Mobile Interception: The Gamma Group Nobody Knows
C5IS reviews “passive” and “active” mobile interception and location capabilities of The Gamma Group. The UK’s Gamma Group has gone to great lengths to distance itself from its most famous product -- FinFisher ethical malware -- even to the point of spinning off the unit as a separate German company, and ostensibly shedding any further involvement with Trojans or Zero Days … [Read more...]
Israel’s Ability: Topnotch Off-the-Air Interception
With all the fanfare surrounding the IMSI catcher, scant attention has been paid to its lesser known “off the air” cousin -- hence today’s review of Israel’s Ability, a leader in passive off the air mobile interception solutions prized by military, intelligence and law enforcement customers. Unlike many companies in the surveillance biz that turned up post-9/11 to capitalize … [Read more...]