[HN Gopher] New details on commercial spyware vendor Variston ___________________________________________________________________ New details on commercial spyware vendor Variston Author : andrew-ld Score : 32 points Date : 2022-11-30 20:26 UTC (2 hours ago) (HTM) web link (blog.google) (TXT) w3m dump (blog.google) | zelon88 wrote: | > As is currently normal for internally found Chrome bugs, no CVE | was assigned. | | Why I don't care about or trust anything from Google TAG, PZ, or | any other "security blog" that Google publishes. | | They have no problems copping CVEs on competitors like Mozilla, | Microsoft, or Apple.... but squirrel away zero days on their own | products for the better part of a year or more and then quietly | publish blog posts without actually filing for a CVE. | soci wrote: | "Variston IT" EBITDA was between 6M to 15M EUR in 2021 [1][2]. | Interesting numbers from a completely unknown tech company in | Barcelona whatsoever. | | [1] https://www.iberinform.es/empresa/8097556/variston- | informati.... | | [2] P&L and Balances are public data in Spain, but usually behind | paywalls. Sometimes the financial data without the paywall just | shows the order of magnitude, like in this specific case. | itake wrote: | My friend works there! This is the most I have heard about his | work since he was so secretive. | kingforaday wrote: | At Variston IT or Google/TAG? :) | shkkmo wrote: | > TAG became aware of the Heliconia framework when Google | received an anonymous submission to the Chrome bug reporting | program. The submitter filed three bugs, each with instructions | and an archive that contained source code. They used unique names | in the bug reports including, "Heliconia Noise," "Heliconia Soft" | and "Files." TAG analyzed the submissions and found they | contained frameworks for deploying exploits in the wild and a | script in the source code included clues pointing to the possible | developer of the exploitation frameworks, Variston IT. | | Does that mean that this was likely an internal whistleblower at | Variston since the bug reports had internal build tools? | willcipriano wrote: | Considering it's a malware vendor, I'd put my money on they | ship it with the internal build tools by accident, mistakes | like that are pretty typical in that space. | shkkmo wrote: | Could be, but the three separate reports/leaks make that seem | unlikely to me. It could also the a hacker that compromised | the company to obtain the tools. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-11-30 23:00 UTC)