Hacking Team, Boeing Worked on Drones That Infect Computers Over Wi-Fi

In the aftermath of a mega security breach at Hacking Team, the Italian surveillance software company consisting of hackers that supplied tools to governments, a new revelation exposes a scary cyber-threat technique the notorious group had attained.

The Hacking Team's leaked email database, made public by WikiLeaks, reveals the development of a "rugged hardware" (drone) that was capable of attacking computers and mobile devices with malware sent over Wi-Fi networks.

The Hacking Team advertised this service as Remote Control System Galileo, and presented it to defence companies at the International Defense Exposition and Conference (IDEX) event in Abu Dhabi earlier this year.

"Cyberspace has no boundaries. Your suspect can be anywhere today, while your hands are tied as soon as he moves outside the country. You cannot stop your targets from moving. How can you keep chasing them?" reads the description of the product. "What you need is a way to bypass encryption, collect relevant data out of any device, and keep monitoring your targets wherever they are, even outside your monitoring domain."

The product reportedly caught the attention of a representative of Boeing's Insitu, a subsidiary of American Airlines company which manufactures unmanned drones. The companies collaborated and assigned an engineer to build a drone carrying a mini-computer loaded with weaponised code.

"We see potential in integrating your Wi-Fi hacking capability into an airborne system and would be interested in starting a conversation with one of your engineers to go over, in more depth, the payload capabilities including the detailed size, weight, and power specs of your Galileo System," wrote Giuseppe Venneri, an Insitu intern.

Both the companies showed enthusiasm in their early email exchanges, but the conversation started to wither when Hacking Team realised legal complications.