Researchers find German-made spyware across globe

LONDON (AP) — A research center says it has uncovered a group of servers linked to a powerful piece of espionage software, mapping a spy program's spread across the globe.

Gamma International's FinFisher spy software would allow law enforcement agencies to browse their target's emails or eavesdrop on their Skype calls. The company says it is a lawful surveillance tool but it's decried by some activists as an instrument of repression.

Researchers at Citizen Lab, based at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs, have now tied FinFisher to servers in 25 different countries, including the U.S., Canada, and authoritarian regimes such as Ethiopia and Vietnam.

They warned of the spyware's "unchecked global proliferation."

U.K.-based Gamma referred questions to FinFisher's German developer, Martin Munch. Munch did not immediately return emails.