The FBI is breaking into corporate computers

Using the excuse that the government needs to protect corporations from malware attacks, the FBI has been breaking into private corporate computers. Here is more:

The FBI has the authority right now to access privately owned computers without their owners’ knowledge or consent, and to delete software. It’s part of a government effort to contain the continuing attacks on corporate networks running Microsoft Exchange software, and it’s an unprecedented intrusion that’s raising legal questions about just how far the government can go.

And unfortunately it was a court decision in Texas which has granted the FBI this permission:

On April 9, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas approved a search warrant allowing the U.S. Department of Justice to carry out the operation.

Here is a some more detail about this covert operation:

The FBI is accessing hundreds of these mail servers in corporate networks. The search warrant allows the FBI to access the web shells, enter the previously discovered password for a web shell, make a copy for evidence, and then delete the web shell. The FBI, though, was not authorized to remove any other malware that hackers might have installed during the breach or otherwise access the contents of the servers.

What makes this case unique is both the scope of the FBI’s actions to remove the web shells and the unprecedented intrusion into privately owned computers without the owners’ consent. The FBI undertook the operation without consent because of the large number of unprotected systems throughout U.S. networks and the urgency of the threat.

The FBI can sneak into a corporation’s computer without the owner’s permission, poke around in there, delete certain files, and leave without leaving a trace. It does not take a genius to figure out what is wrong with this, nor does it take much imagination to understand this is ripe for abuse by the politicalized FBI.