Police given power to hack into social media accounts to target criminals
Child sex abusers, terrorists and organised crime are the targets of new laws that make it easier for authorities to hack into social media accounts to change data and posts.
Police & Courts
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New laws that make it easier for law authorities to hack into social media accounts and change data and posts will be used within weeks to target child sex abusers, terrorists and organised crime gangs.
They allow police to spy on social media accounts, change passwords, lock criminals out of their own accounts even if they do not know their identities and copy, alter and delete data in order to frustrate serious criminal offences occurring online.
They can also help law enforcement beat data encryption platforms such as Phantom Secure, Encrochat and AN0M, which the AFP and FBI used to smash organised crime groups with hundreds of arrests earlier this year under Operation Ironside.
The “unprecedented” laws were only passed on September 3 but AFP Assistant Commissioner Northern Command Lesa Gale said on Sunday that the AFP was sending a “new and clear warning to offenders” that they would be using them within weeks, firstly against child sex predators.
“It will now be harder for perpetrators to hide on the dark web and other forums,” she said.
The Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Act 2021 has been slammed by human rights groups who fear the laws potentially being used against everyday Australians, journalists and whistleblowers.
They have criticised the lack of safeguards.
The AFP hit back and said that before they or the ultra-secretive Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission can take over a social media account, they need an Account Takeover Warrant issued by a magistrate who finds it necessary to obtain evidence about “serious criminal offences”.
Those warrants could be used to identify who is distributing child sex abuse material and deprive the account holder of access to the account as well as letting the AFP assume that person’s identity to hunt down other offenders, Assistant Commissioner Gale said.
“The new warrants will give the AFP new avenues to help identify offenders who distribute, and in some cases, pay to watch children being abused,” she said.
A Date Disruption Warrant can only be issued by a Federal Court judge or nominated Administrative Appeals Tribunal member. Those warrants allow the AFP and ACIC to add, copy, alter and delete data.
Assistant Commissioner Gale said one example where the new powers could have helped was in the arrest of a man last year who was charged with 177 child sex offences including distributing images of himself abusing three children. He refused them immediate access to his mobile messaging app and many offenders have not beenm identified because they used virtual private networks.
The AFP said in a statement that the new powers were designed to combat the increasing use of the dark web and anonymised technology by criminals and warrants can only be issued for the investigation of a Commonwealth offence with a penalty of at least three years’ imprisonment.
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