2011-12-02 "WikiLeaks set to out Canadian companies in 'Spy Files'" by Jordan Press from "Postmedia News"
[http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/WikiLeaks+Canadian+companies+Files/5802708/story.html]
At least three Canadian companies are set to watch potentially damaging documents released online to the world, part of the latest dump of secret files obtained by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.
The website lists three Canadian companies it claims are part of a global industry that helps governments spy on citizens through Internet monitoring and one through phone monitoring.
The industry, WikiLeaks says, numbers about 160 companies in 25 countries. Companies in the unregulated industry develop technologies that allow governments, law enforcement and intelligence services to track and monitor citizens through their mobile phones, email accounts and web browser history, it says.
The industry is worth more than $5 billion annually, according to WikiLeaks.
The three companies listed on the Spy Files website are Vineyard Networks, AdvancedIO and Sandvine. None has been named in any documents WikiLeaks released in its first batch of documents that were posted Thursday.
WikiLeaks didn't indicate on its website just when the Canadian information would be made public.
Of the companies listed by Wikileaks, 86 sell Internet monitoring products, 62 focus on telephone surveillance and 20 have products for capturing text messages.
There are also 14 that do GPS tracking, WikiLeaks says on its website.
Seven of the companies allegedly are involved in what WikiLeaks describes as "cyber-war offensives," by selling programs and tools that allow a user to take control of computers remotely without the owner's knowledge by bypassing regular anti-virus programs.
All three Canadian companies on their websites tout products they say make networks safer, or help people to communicate, play or make financial transactions online.
AdvancedIO also lists security surveillance systems as part of its product list. The company is also listed on the federal government's Controlled Goods Directorate as an organization that imports, exports or handles controlled goods or technology.
The document release, whenever it happens, could be as damaging to the companies as was the release of classified American diplomatic cables was to foreign governments, including Canada. The release of more than 260,000 cables gave the world a look into the sometimes secret dealings between countries, angering U.S. government officials in Washington.