Spyware company’s CEO says one of its government clients misused its malware before it was retired

Spyware

A new cyber-espionage tool called Dante has come to light, and it’s making headlines for all the wrong reasons. According to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, the spyware has been used to target Windows users in Russia and Belarus, quietly gathering information from a range of industries from media and universities to government offices.

Here’s where it gets interesting: Dante was created by Memento Labs, an Italian surveillance tech company that rose from the ashes of the infamous Hacking Team, which once sold spyware to governments around the world. Hacking Team collapsed after a massive hack in 2015 exposed its shady client list and source code.

Memento’s CEO, Paolo Lezzi, confirmed that Dante is indeed their spyware. However, he placed the blame on one of their government clients, saying the group used an outdated version of the spyware that should have been retired. “Clearly they used an agent that was already dead,” he told TechCrunch, referring to the malware that infected computers.

Kaspersky’s investigation revealed that the group using Dante, called ForumTroll, lured victims with fake invites to a Russian political and economics event. The spyware allegedly gave hackers access to sensitive files and data, and even exploited browser vulnerabilities to spread faster.

Interestingly, the spyware’s code contained the term “DANTEMARKER” — a digital clue that helped researchers link it directly to Memento Labs. Despite the controversy, Lezzi insists Memento now focuses on mobile spyware, not Windows systems.

For those unfamiliar, spyware is a type of software used to secretly monitor or extract information from someone’s device — often used by governments, but frequently abused.

Experts say the discovery of Dante is a reminder that even when one spyware company shuts down, another often takes its place. “It shows how surveillance tech never really disappears,” said John Scott-Railton from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.

The case underlines a troubling truth: even after scandals and global criticism, the spyware industry continues to reinvent itself — quietly, and dangerously.