KUALA LUMPUR: The provider of the Prey Anti-Theft has refuted claims by some PKR leaders that its open-source anti-theft software is capable to temper with the voting process of the party’s election for the Julau branch.
Prey Inc, in a statement, confirmed that its software is not capable to carrying out activities as alleged by PKR Central Election Committee (CEC) chairman Datuk Rashid Din and former Pandan Member of Parliament, Rafizi Ramli, who is contesting for the deputy president’s post in the party polls.
The San Francisco-based company said its software has been incorrectly accused of eliminating voting applications installed on tablets used during the e-voting process, manipulating voting decisions remotely, wiping out votes on the devices, controlling the tablets remotely as a remote desktop, being a malware and spyware application as well as breaching password-protected systems to install the application.
“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 Remote File Retrieval and Remote Wipe features are part of paid plans exclusively. The latter is only capable of wiping the SD card or to format the Android (mobile operating system) device completely.
“It cannot target files specifically or modify them to alter their content,” the company said.
Prey Inc also refuted allegations the described its software as malware, which is capable of bypassing in-device security that avoid unauthorised user modifications.
“The company was not, at any given moment, involved in the (PKR) election process or in the configuration of the devices utilised,” it said adding that the software has protected eight million mobile devices worldwide for more than seven years.
The company said it will not pursue further legal actions against Rafizi and Rashid over their allegations against the software.
“We believe the candidate’s words come in good faith and stem from a misunderstanding of how the software works.”
It was reported that the result of the party polls for the Julau branch on Saturday was suspended after the CEC’s System and Information Technology Unit discovered 10 tablets used for the voting process ‘infected’ by the software.
Rafizi was quoted by a portal claiming that the software enable certain quarters to remotely manipulate the polling decision.
Rashid had voiced similar concerns claiming that it was a “planned act” by certain quarters.