CIPAV, the "Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier" spyware apparently used by the FBI to monitor activity on the computers of suspects, may not seem the hottest news item around: in fact, my friend and former colleague Craig Johnston and I put together a paper – Please Police Me – on the issues involved with policeware versus
CIPAV, the "Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier" spyware apparently used by the FBI to monitor activity on the computers of suspects, may not seem the hottest news item around: in fact, my friend and former colleague Craig Johnston and I put together a paper – Please Police Me – on the issues involved with policeware versus crimeware for AVAR a couple of years ago, which is still available from the ESET white papers page, and which specifically mentioned CIPAV.
However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has noted some significant updated information about CIPAV recently, and UK journalist Kevin Townsend asked me (among others) for comment. His article (well worth reading) is at https://kevtownsend.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/fbi-cipav-spyware-and-the-anti-virus-companies/, and I made some further comment for SC Magazine at http://www.scmagazineus.com/cipav-spyware-versus-spyware/article/202147/ on some issues I though needed clarification.
David Harley CITP FBCS CISSP
ESET Senior Research Fellow
Discussion