Governments can't get enough of hacking services to use against their citizens, despite their protestations that elements of the trade need sanctioning.

Only legitimate government agencies are supposed to use surveillanceware against criminal targets but governments and companies are widely abusing this, as we've covered many times in the past. Legal surveillanceware companies have targeted activists, journalists, and even political figures, and there's also evidence that the vulns are leaking into the malware sphere.

An analysis [PDF] of the industry by security operations center specialist Sekoia shows that surveillanceware vendors are seeing business grow in leaps and bounds and prices are going up to match.

For example, the report recounts that, in 2011, the Gamma Group - a British

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