Hacking Team's malware, sold as "offensive security" software

Mark R. Diamond made this Freedom of Information request to Australian Federal Police

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

Australian Federal Police did not have the information requested.

Mark R. Diamond

Dear Australian Federal Police,

I request access to any document that shows how much it cost the Australian Federal Police to use malware produced by the Milan based software company known as Hacking Team" in the years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. In case there is any difficulty in identifying the malware I'm referring to, it is the software that Hacking Team were pleased call "offensive security software".

Yours faithfully,

Mark R. Diamond

FOI, Australian Federal Police

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Mark R. Diamond left an annotation ()

This request is related to an early request by Henare Degan (https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/g... ) for information related to Gamma International's FinFisher software, and also to my own recent request for information about FinFisher (https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/g... ). As with the other requests, I expect that this one will be refused on the grounds of section 25 of the FOI Act.

FOI, Australian Federal Police

1 Attachment

UNCLASSIFIED

Good Morning Mr Diamond,

                

Your Freedom of Information Request re: Hacking Team's malware, sold as
"offensive security" software

I refer to your application of 5 January 2016 in which you seek access to
documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act) as follows:

 

I request access to any document that shows how much it cost the
Australian Federal Police to use malware produced by the Milan based
software company known as Hacking Team" in the years 2013, 2014, 2015,
2016. In case there is any difficulty in identifying the malware I'm
referring to, it is the software that Hacking Team were pleased call
"offensive security software".

 

Information considered irrelevant to the scope of your request

The AFP, in its management of FOI requests, excludes the following
information on the basis that is irrelevant to the scope of a request:

 

-      Names of AFP members, other than the Senior Executive.

-      Direct telephone numbers, signatures and mobile telephone numbers
of AFP members.

-      Duplicate documents, including duplicate emails.  The AFP will only
provide emails where they form a final email chain and the
authors/recipients are contained within the final email. 

-      Information that is publicly available, for example, newspaper
articles, online publications including information available on the AFP
Information Publication Scheme and the AFP disclosure log.

 

If you object to the AFP excluding any of the above information, please
advise this office within seven days of receipt of this letter.

 

Your request was received by this agency on 5 January 2017 and the 30 day
statutory period for processing your request commenced from that date.

 

You will be notified of any charges in accordance with the Freedom of
Information (Fees and Charges) Regulations, should they apply, in relation
to your request as soon as practicable. 

Disclosure Log

Please be advised that in accordance with section 11C of the Act, an
agency is required to publish information on their website following the
notification of a decision in respect of a freedom of information
request. 

 

The requirement to publish information released under FOI reinforces the
objectives of the FOI Act to promote a pro-disclosure culture across
government and to increase recognition that information held by government
is a national resource.  Exceptions to the requirement to publish
information would apply to personal information and information concerning
the business affairs of a person if it was considered ‘unreasonable’ to do
so.  Details of the decision may be published in a Disclosure Log which
can be found at
[1]https://www.afp.gov.au/about-us/informat....
Publication will be made in accordance with timeframes stipulated in
section 11C of the Act.

 

If, however, after noting the above, you wish to raise any concerns about
the publication of information concerning your request prior to the
notification of a decision, please advise this office in writing before 4
February 2017.  If you do not raise any concerns prior to the date of the
decision, the AFP will publish the information as notified to you in the
decision.

Yours sincerely

AFP22486
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
CHIEF COUNSEL PORTFOLIO

Tel +61(0) 2 6131 6131

[2]www.afp.gov.au

 

 

UNCLASSIFIED

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References

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FOI, Australian Federal Police

2 Attachments

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Mr Diamond,

 

Please find attached our decision in relation to your Freedom of
Information request.

 

Regards,

 

TANYA (AFP 14692)
TEAM MEMBER, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
CHIEF COUNSEL PORTFOLIO

Tel +61(0) 2 61316131  

[1]www.afp.gov.au

 

 

UNCLASSIFIED

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WARNING

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that is confidential and subject of legal privilege intended only for
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are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for
delivering the message to the intended recipient be advised that you
have received this message in error and that any use, copying,
circulation, forwarding, printing or publication of this message or
attached files is strictly forbidden, as is the disclosure of the
information contained therein. If you have received this message in
error, please notify the sender immediately and delete it from your
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AFP Web site: http://www.afp.gov.au
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References

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William Reynolds left an annotation ()

So, they didn't licence the software?

James Baldwin left an annotation ()

The applicant asked for a 'document that shows...how much it cost...to use' the software.

The AFP are saying that they do not have a document that shows this. The applicant didn't ask how much it cost to purchase/licence/obtain the software. He asked how much it cost to use it. There is a difference.

Mark R. Diamond

Dear FOI Contact Officer,

Many thanks for your decision letter of 5 January 2017.

Yours faithfully,

Mark R. Diamond

FOI, Australian Federal Police

Thank you for your email.

Please note that this is an automated response to confirm that your email was sent to the Australian Federal Police Freedom of Information (FOI) inbox.

This FOI inbox is monitored between 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays and the period from 27-31 December.

If you wish to lodge a request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), please ensure that your request is in writing, states that it is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act and provides sufficient detail describing the documents you wish to access.

If you are requesting personal information about yourself then please ensure you enclose a copy of your photographic identification.

Further details on how to make a valid FOI request can be found on the Australian Federal Police’s website at: http://www.afp.gov.au/about-the-afp/foi-...

The Australian Federal Police will acknowledge your request in accordance with the legislative requirements of the Act.

The FOI Team can be contacted on 02 6131 6131

**********************************************************************
WARNING

This email message and any attached files may contain information
that is confidential and subject of legal privilege intended only for
use by the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you
are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for
delivering the message to the intended recipient be advised that you
have received this message in error and that any use, copying,
circulation, forwarding, printing or publication of this message or
attached files is strictly forbidden, as is the disclosure of the
information contained therein. If you have received this message in
error, please notify the sender immediately and delete it from your
inbox.

AFP Web site: http://www.afp.gov.au
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Max L. Sutton left an annotation ()

Hi everyone, since the AFP won't publish the information, I will. Let's see here... The NSW police force spent 2.5 million in licensing. They also spent a collective 72 million in total. That should give you an estimate. The ADF gave Criterion Solutions 5 million for StingRays (fake mobile towers to suck up users info)
sources (note that i've used short urls because they're much much too long): - (ABC news https://tinyurl.com/nlbhj7v) - (source 2 SMH posted pricing: https://tinyurl.com/ox4yblt) - (the absolute original source: https://wikileaks.org/hackingteam/emails/ ) (use search function)

Mark R. Diamond left an annotation ()

For some of my thoughts about this request and the basis for its refusal, see my comments on the page about Gamma International's FinFisher spyware at https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/g...