http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsID=10565 

By Robert McMillan
IDG News Service 
06 November 2007

A founder of security start-up WabiSabiLabi was among those arrested by 
Milan police in connection with an ongoing spying scandal at Telecom 
Italia, according to published reports.

Roberto Preatoni was charged Monday with unauthorised access to computer 
systems and wiretapping, said the reports (in Italian). Sources 
confirmed he is the same Roberto Preatoni who is a founder and director 
of strategy with WabiSabiLabi. A representative at the security startup 
declined to comment Tuesday. He said the company would email a statement 
later in the day.

Preatoni's company was launched in July, billing itself as an online 
marketplace for exploit code that could be used to hack into computer 
systems. Legitimate companies such as 3Com and Verisign have paid for 
this type of code in the past, but WabiSabiLabi was the first open 
marketplace for such software.

Preatoni, who spoke at Microsoft's Blue Hat security conference just 
weeks ago, billed his marketplace as a mechanism that would allow 
independent security researchers to get paid for their work.

Preatoni's work at WabiSabiLabi apparently has nothing to do with his 
arrest. The trouble reportedly started with his security consulting work 
as a penetration tester - a security expert hired to test working 
networks for vulnerabilities.

According to the reports, Preatoni helped staff a 10-member "Tiger 
Team," ostensibly set up to test Telecom Italia's information security 
system. Members of this team are now charged with hacking and spying on 
Carla Cico, CEO of Brasil Telecom, the Kroll investigative agency, and 
journalists Fausto Carioti and David Giacalone of the newspaper Libero.

In January, four others were charged with spying in connection with the 
scandal. They included Fabio Ghioni, vice president and security CTO 
(chief technology officer) at Telecom Italia, and Giuliano Tavaroli, the 
telco's former head of security.

At the time of those arrests, Tiger Team members were charged with using 
a Trojan Horse program to steal sensitive data from the computer of 
Vittorio Colao, the former CEO of the Rizzoli Corriere della Sera 
publishing group.

The scandal has been front page news in Italy for months now.

"It's a big deal, there's a lot of political pressure on this issue and 
on the general issue of wiretaps, and it's difficult to understand how 
big or how criminal were the deeds of the persons involved," said 
Stefano Zanero, a security consultant based in Milan, speaking via 
instant message. "It's a huge mess, and it engulfs everybody who's 
touched."

Telecom Italia's Ghioni and Preatoni were both known within the security 
research community. They gave a joint presentation at the Hack In The 
Box Security Conference in September 2006 entitled "The Biggest 
Brother." They have also lectured on industrial espionage at the Chaos 
Communication Congress.

At Hack In The Box they argued that many security measures put in place 
by governments after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks have helped 
to strengthen control over their citizens and erode democratic freedoms. 
"The Internet allows you to do more effective things regarding 
controlling the population," Preatoni said.

"Before, we were just being spied on," Ghioni said, adding that 
governments are now using psychological operations and technology to 
prey upon their citizens' fears and extend their own power.


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