PKR POLLS | The company behind Prey has refuted allegations that the software was capable of compromising the results of the Julau PKR division election last Saturday.
“Prey Inc affirms that its Prey Anti-Theft software is not capable of carrying out the specific election tampering activities,” it said in a statement.
Previously, PKR deputy president contender Rafizi Ramli had called the app “malicious spyware” and said it allowed for tablets at the Julau voting centre to be controlled remotely.
The party's central election committee chief Rashid Din had also said that the tablets were being probed for whether Prey was used to delete the PKR e-voting app, steal data, change passwords or control the tablets remotely.
Today, Prey Inc said the application had been “incorrectly accused” of being able to perform these functions.
“Prey Inc confirms that its software is not capable of carrying out said activities, being that the application itself has no remote desktop feature, and no remote control capabilities that allow the deletion of specific applications or the ability to write or modify data in the device."
The software developer further explained that only the paid versions of the app allowed users to remotely retrieve files and remotely wipe out information from devices.
Even so, the latter feature, called “remote wipe,” only allowed for entire SD cards or format entire devices to be wiped out completely.
“It can’t target files specifically or modify them to alter their content,” it added.
Malaysiakini is seeking the central election committee's confirmation as to which version of the app was found installed in the tablets in Julau.
Not spyware, only admins can install
Prey Inc also explained that it could only have been installed by those with authorisation.
“Prey Inc also discredits allegations that describe Prey as malware capable of bypassing in-device security that avoids unauthorised user modifications, such as tampering of data or installing applications.
“When said protections are active, the application can only be installed by the device’s administrator,” it said, adding that the application complied with all European and international privacy and security standards.
Despite the allegations, Prey Inc said it was not considering legal action.
“We believe the candidate’s (Rafizi’s) words come in good faith and stem from a misunderstanding of how the software works. Given this position, we refrain for now from pursuing further legal actions."
Previously, incumbent PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin had said that only someone from the election committee could have installed Prey onto the tablets, and called for the release of the relevant log files.
“Not anyone can do this. The election committee has to take full responsibility as only someone from there who has a password can access the tablet and download software.
"This can easily be traced, and the election committee must reveal who did this,” she had said.
The IT officer in charge of the e-voting system being used in the PKR election was previously arrested over the matter. He was later released after having his statement recorded at the Sibu police headquarters.
