Hacking Team hack casts spotlight on murky world of state surveillance

The recent dump of the company's private documents revealed the blurred moral lines of 'digital mercenaries' providing software that could violate human rights

In contrast to many of the private companies performing outsourced aggressive surveillance work for the world's spy agencies, Hacking Team doesn't try to hide behind a generic corporate identity. Gamma International, Academi and QintetiQ could be companies doing anything, but Hacking Team - well, it doesn't take a genius to guess what line of work they are in.

Hacking Team works in the "cybersecurity" industry. That's "cybersecurity" in the same way that arms manufacturers describe their business as "defence". It doesn't provide security at all, really; none of their software will help clients avoid cyberattacks, tighten up their internal networks, or patch flaws in their software. Its main business is offensive hacking.