“Black and white”. “Surveillance Eldorado” – what is known about the Hermes system

Although the scope of the Hermes surveillance system was not as wide as the infamous Pegasus, this tool could have been much more than revealed so far. Details are shown by Marta Gordziewicz's material in the “Black and White” program. What is known?

When it came to light that the prosecutor's office during the rule Zbigniew Ziobra She had the Hermes system, the politicians of the Prosecutor General tried to underestimate its importance, saying that it is an analytical tool gathering open data. The findings of Marta Gordziewicz from “Black and white” show that Hermes reached much deeper. A prosecutor's investigation is currently underway.

Hermes. How and when it was bought

The Hermes system was purchased during the rule of the United Right. As noted in the material, investigative journalist Robert Zieliński was done in such a way as to hide the purchase from the public. The system manufacturer is NSO Group – the same Izreal company that stands behind Pegasus. The intermediary when selling Hermes was the Queber Technologies company registered in Luxembourg. The National Prosecutor's Office paid about PLN 15.5 million to these companies. According to the interlocutors, Marta Gordziewicz, Zbigniew Ziobro had to accept the purchase of Hermes, as the then prosecutor general and Bogdan Święczkowski, the National Prosecutor in 2016-2022. And special services officers, close associates of Christmas were involved in the purchase. Despite such a high purchase cost, the software was not even tested before buying. The purchase was made without a tender.

Hermes could do more than thought

Hermes did not break the security like Pegasus, but – as it turns out – could have much more than revealed to this leeky. was a system for analyzing open internet sources (OSINT); This is a legal action – so -called White interview. But, according to the material, he also had other possibilities – and He could obtain data not only from open sources, but also the so -called Data of the leakage that did not come from the open network. And there are e.g. logins and slogans that leaked through someone's carelessness, or as a result of hacker activities. The system also reached for Darknet. As an expert says in the program, “he is already in a black interview.”

How was Hermes used by the prosecutor's office?

According to Marta Gordziewicz's material, Hermes had two modules. The first was written by what prosecutors were looking for, also in unavailable places. But The second module did not write anything – so it is not known to check what prosecutors used it. – There is no audit trail that enabled verification for which this module was used – says Jaromir Rybczak, head of the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Rzeszów in “Black and white”.

– If it really was in no way signed up, we are dealing with such surveillance Eldorado for prosecutors who could in this way satisfy the need for the institution in which they worked, and their own curiosity – sums up Wojciech Klicki from the Panoptykon Foundation in the material.

Who was the system used for?

The prosecutor's office detected approx. 30 non -ceiling Hermes checks. The investigation is to show who was checked without the required application. Hermes was checked, among others Mariusz Jałoszewski, journalist of the OKO.press portal. Writing about this tool, he revealed the names of the people for whom Hermes was used. He also came to his name. The tools were used for his and other journalists in the investigation of the so -called hatred scandal. But not only. The authors of the material determined that in the case the prosecutor's office obtained access to the e -mail box of one of the independent judges – criticism of the reform of Ziobra.

The use of Hermes. Which is currently checked by the prosecutor's office

Jaromir Rybczak from the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Rzeszów in the “black and white” material indicates that currently “the hypothesis is verified that there has been a crime to exceed the rights, failure to fulfill his duties by public officials when it comes to the use of this tool.”

As the prosecutor emphasizes in the material, this system was actually “unused in court proceedings” – the prosecutor's office, showing evidence in court, must reveal the source of their origin. Hermes did not allow to verify where he downloads the data exactly, and whether they are true. The investigation also shows that people outside the national prosecutor's office also had access to data.

“Surveillance Eldorado” – where to watch

Could the prosecutor's office enjoy Hermes's wide possibilities? What entities except the prosecutor's office had access to it? Did the system based on white intelligence methods? Is Hermes cyberbronia? You will know the answers to these questions in “black and white” – The material can be viewed on the TVN24+platform.