Hacking Team was a Milan-based information technology company that sold offensive intrusion and surveillance capabilities to governments, law enforcement agencies and corporations.

[2] The company has been criticized for providing these capabilities to governments with poor human rights records,[3] though HackingTeam states that they have the ability to disable their software if it is used unethically.

Hoping to use its tool to spy on Italian citizens and listen to their Skype calls, the police contacted Vincenzetti and asked him to help.

According to former employee Byamukama Robinhood, the company began as security services provider, offering penetration testing, auditing and other defensive capabilities to clients.

Byamukama claims fellow employees working on aspects of the same platform – for example, Android exploits and payloads – would not communicate with one another, possibly leading to tensions and strife within the organization.

HackingTeam has been criticized for selling its products and services to governments with poor human rights records, including Sudan, Bahrain, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia.

Documents leaked in the 2015 data breach of HackingTeam revealed the organization sold Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service access to their "Remote Control System" software in 2012 for 960,000 Euros.

"The view of the panel is that as such software is ideally suited to support military electronic intelligence (ELINT) operations it may potentially fall under the category of 'military ... equipment' or 'assistance' related to prohibited items," the secretary wrote in March.

[21] On July 5, 2015, the Twitter account of the company was compromised by an unknown individual who published an announcement of a data breach against HackingTeam's computer systems.

[24][25] The material was voluminous and early analysis appeared to reveal that HackingTeam had invoiced the Lebanese Army[26] and Sudan and that spy tools were also sold to Bahrain and Kazakhstan.

[45] HackingTeam's clientele include not just governments, but also corporate clients such as Barclays and British Telecom (BT) of the United Kingdom, as well as Deutsche Bank of Germany.