Company that sells software for monitoring sex offenders, terrorists, and hackers was hacked

A company that sells spyware for monitoring individuals on parole and probation was hacked, with data leaked to a cybercrime forum this week. The breach involved RemoteCOM, which describes its service as the premier computer, smartphone and tablet monitoring service for the management of pretrial, probation and parole clients, and which is used by parole and probation officers in 49 states.

A training manual for RemoteCOM’s software, known as SCOUT, states the spyware can be used to track a range of people, including sex offenders, sex traffickers and stalkers to terrorists, hackers and gang members.

The leak includes a file titled “officers” with 6,896 entries containing names, phone numbers, work addresses, emails, unique IDs and job titles, and a file titled “clients” with identifying information on nearly 14,000 individuals monitored by SCOUT, including offenders’ names, email addresses, IP addresses, home addresses and phone numbers alongside their probation officers’ details, according to SANS. RemoteCOM told SANS they were investigating, and the company appeared offline as data continued to circulate. According to the report by Straight Arrow News, the data remains under scrutiny as investigators review the leak.