Law enforcers to use Trojans

A Trojan program that does a similar job to the infamous Back Orifice, is being marketed to law enforcement agencies, vnunet.com has learned.

Codex Data Systems this week released information on Dirt (Data Interception by Remote Transmission), a Trojan horse program that can be used to carry out all the typical functions of outlawed software, like Back Orifice, Netbus and SubSeven.

Functions in Dirt, which are outlawed in other packages, include the ability to log keystrokes and remotely access files. But the difference is that Dirt claims to be safe from abuse by crackers and hackers because it's only for use by law enforcement agencies.

"Further information and demonstrations are available only to authorised military, governmental and law enforcement agencies upon receipt of your agency letterhead signed by an authorised official," said Codex.

Along with its boasts that it can bypass firewalls, is completely transparent while on a system and can be implemented in something as simple as a Word file, Dirt also claims to act as a "no knock electronic search warrant".

The marketing spiel for the law enforcement tool also claims that "sending hidden code to the target PC is simple using the D.I.R.T. Bug Generator", an announcement which has got some security watchers squirming in their seats.

A recent US ruling found that the FBI can legally access computer systems outside of US national borders as part of an investigation. The hacker community has voiced suspicions that it's not abuse by them we should be worried about, but abuse of the tool by these law enforcement agencies.

And because Dirt is not yet available to the public, the company boast, there is no known antivirus defence for the Trojan, as there is for other tools such as Back Orifice - technically a grey area, seeing as the tool executes without user consent.

But on the other hand, security watchers L0pht point out that "it's for Windows platforms only, so Unix- and Mac-based terrorists are OK - for now".