German state admits spying on citizens with trojan software

The trojan, referred to as Bundestrojaner or R2D2, was first discovered by German hacker group Chaos Computer Club. They claim in a report that the German government developed the software to gather information from target computers, including screenshots, keystrokes, and audio from VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls. CCC says that the trojan even has a "backdoor" that lets additional software to be installed and executed.

The software has been used illegally

There is concern that the software has been used illegally. There are laws in place in Germany that allow investigators to intercept digital communications, nevertheless there are strict guidelines for when this can be done. The all-encompassing spying ability of R2D2 is what raises the most red flags -- especially its ability to allow for the installation and execution of additional software. CCC believes that this could be used to plant evidence on a computer.

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