Surveillance tech provider Protei was hacked, its data stolen and its website defaced

A Russian telecom firm that develops expertise to permit cellphone and web corporations to conduct net surveillance and censorship was hacked, had its web site defaced, and had information stolen from its servers, TechCrunch has realized.

Based in Russia, Protei makes telecommunications techniques for cellphone and web suppliers throughout dozens of nations, together with Bahrain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Pakistan and far of central Africa. The corporate, now headquartered in Jordan, sells video conferencing expertise and web connectivity options, in addition to surveillance gear and web-filtering merchandise, corresponding to deep packet inspection techniques.

It’s not clear precisely when or how Protei was hacked, however a copy of the company’s website saved on the Web Archive’s Wayback Machine reveals it was defaced on November 8. The web site was restored quickly after.

In the course of the breach, the hacker obtained the contents of Protei’s net server — round 182 gigabytes of information — together with emails courting again years.

A replica of Protei’s information was offered to DDoSecrets, a non-profit transparency collective that indexes leaked datasets within the public curiosity, together with information from legislation enforcement, authorities businesses, and firms concerned within the surveillance business.

Mohammad Jalal, the managing director of Protei’s department in Jordan, didn’t reply to a request for remark in regards to the breach. 

The id of the hacker is just not identified, nor their motivations, however the defaced web site learn: “one other DPI/SORM supplier bites the mud.” The message seemingly references the corporate’s gross sales of deep packet inspection techniques and different web filtering expertise for the Russian-developed lawful intercept system known as SORM.

SORM is the primary lawful intercept system used throughout Russia in addition to several other countries which use Russian expertise. Cellphone and web suppliers set up SORM gear on their networks, which permits their nation’s governments to acquire the contents of calls, textual content messages and net looking information of the networks’ prospects. 

Deep-packet inspection units enable telecom corporations to determine and filter net site visitors relying on its supply, corresponding to a social media web site or a selected messaging app, and selectively block entry. These techniques are used for surveillance and censorship in areas the place freedom of speech and expression are restricted.

Citizen Lab reported in 2023 that Iranian telecoms big Ariantel had consulted with Protei about expertise for logging web site visitors and blocking entry to sure web sites. Paperwork seen and revealed by Citizen Lab present that Protei touted its expertise’s capability to limit or block entry to web sites for particular folks or total swathes of the inhabitants.