NetBotz
| NetBotz Inc | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Incorporation |
| founding | 1999 |
| resolution | 2005 |
| Reason for dissolution | takeover |
| Seat |
Austin (Texas) United States
|
| Branch | electronics |
NetBotz was an American surveillance systems company based in Austin , Texas . The company was founded in 1999 and was taken over by American Power Conversion (APC) in 2005 . At the time, NetBotz said it was the global market leader in surveillance systems. Since 2007 APC and thus also NetBotz have been part of the French electrical engineering group Schneider Electric .
NetBotz hit the headlines in September 2016 with a report by the television magazine FAKT about a backdoor function intended to enable US intelligence agencies to access data from NetBotz systems.
The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) examined a Netbotz system as early as 2005 based on a tip and discovered the backdoor function. At the time, however, the authority did not pass this information on to other offices because of feared political effects. It was only in 2015 that the Federal Prosecutor's Office informed the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as part of a review of the events at the time .
According to the internal BND report from 2005, NetBotz made intensive efforts at the time to win over authorities such as the Foreign Office and companies in the high-tech and armaments sector as customers. The systems were apparently offered below value, and at the same time inquiries from a retail chain that had promised more sales were rejected.
In addition, as the BND found, NetBotz sought in 2005 to be taken over by a German company, which was apparently intended to conceal the American origins of the technology and to facilitate access to European customers in security-relevant areas. Instead, after the takeover by APC in 2007, it was incorporated into the French Schneider Electric group. Schneider Electric initially responded to a request from FAKT that up to now (September 2016) neither German nor French authorities had informed them about a backdoor function in NetBotz systems. Later (December 2016), the group announced that the devices had been checked and that the allegations could not be understood.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office told FAKT that the preliminary examination was completed in spring 2016 and that no investigative proceedings had been initiated because of the statute of limitations .
To date (December 2016), server monitoring systems from NetBotz are in use at many German companies, some of which are security-relevant, and also in large corporations such as Volkswagen , Deutsche Bank and Telekom .
Web links
- Homepage from 2005 ( Memento from October 18, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b About Us ( Memento from October 18, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c BND scandal: NetBotz apparently builds back doors in its cameras Der Spiegel from September 27, 2016
- ↑ The NSA looks through the back door to ZEIT Online from September 27, 2016
- ↑ a b German corporations apparently affected by US espionage. FAKT exclusive, December 13, 2016.
- ↑ No investigations into BND backdoor scandal - Attorney General cites statute of limitations . FAKT exclusive, October 5th, 2016.