BRUSSELS— Multiple European law-enforcement agencies will stop using Oxygen Forensics, a digital surveillance company accused of concealing its Russian ownership, after POLITICO revealed its spying services had been sold to police forces across the continent. Romania's National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) told POLITICO it has initiated procedures to terminate its contract with Oxygen Forensic’s "detective" software used to extract and analyze data from mobile phones in criminal investigations. The agency's most recent annual license was purchased through a Romanian distributor on Aug. 27 for €13,000.
"In light of information recently made public about the company that produces this software, the National Anticorruption Directorate has initiated the necessary procedures to terminate the contractual obligations regarding this product," DNA said. The agency added that its checks had found no evidence that data extracted or processed using Oxygen had been compromised. Elsewhere, Latvia's State Police has suspended its use of the software while it assesses whether to continue using the technology.
The police explained that officers had previously relied on it to extract and analyze electronic data, but stressed that its use "was under strict control," meaning it was isolated from employees' working computers. In Britain, London's Metropolitan Police has paused its use of Oxygen and launched a full review. The National Police Chiefs' Council has also encouraged forces using the technology to conduct their own assessments.
The moves follow POLITICO reporting this week that the Virginia-based Oxygen, which the U.S. Justice Department has accused of being secretly owned and operated from Russia, participated in EU-backed digital-evidence projects and later supplied technology to European law enforcement agencies. Other European countries that had purchased the services of Oxygen Forensics include Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland and Hungary.
Police agencies from those countries have not responded to POLITICO's request for comment. U.S. prosecutors allege that Oxygen's Russian owners concealed their control of the company after Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and that its technology continued to be developed and managed in Russia. The Justice Department does not allege that the software contained malicious code or was used to access customers' systems or data without authorization.
Following the revelations, political pressure is mounting. Belgian Green MEP Saskia Bricmont is calling on European governments to immediately stop using Oxygen and investigate whether sensitive information could have been exposed to Russia. "It is particularly ironic to see that the EU has an extremely security-driven agenda while handing over the keys of its security to American and Russian companies," said Bricmont, the Greens' coordinator on Parliament's PEGA spyware inquiry.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
