The U.S. Treasury Department declared on Tuesday that it has imposed sanctions on two individuals and a company based in Greece that specializes in spyware. The company is led by a retired Israeli military officer and is responsible for creating, managing, and distributing technology used to spy on American government officials, journalists, and policy experts.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Intellexa Consortium for their involvement in selling and distributing spyware and surveillance tools for mass and targeted monitoring operations. Other entities linked to Intellexa, such as Cytrox AD in North Macedonia, Cytrox Holdings ZRT in Hungary, and Thalestris Limited in Ireland, have also been sanctioned for their contributions to the development and distribution of a tool set called Predator.

According to Biden administration officials, this is the initial instance of the Treasury Department taking action against individuals or organizations for misusing spyware.

Predator allows a user to infiltrate electronic devices through zero-click attacks that require no user interaction for the spyware to infect the device. The spyware, which has been used in dozens of countries, has allowed for the unauthorized extraction of data, geolocation tracking and access to personal information on compromised devices.

Brian Nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury, stated that the actions taken today are a significant move towards discouraging the inappropriate use of commercial surveillance tools. These tools pose a growing security threat to both the United States and its citizens. The US is committed to creating guidelines for responsible development and usage of such technologies, while also safeguarding the human rights and civil liberties of individuals globally.

Last year, the Commerce Department placed Intellexa and Cytrox on a blacklist, prohibiting them from accessing U.S. technology.

In October, a report from Amnesty International’s Security Lab revealed that Predator was utilized to aim at, but not necessarily infiltrate, the devices of European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen, as well as US Representative Michael McCaul and Senator John Hoeven.

Several spyware incidents have occurred in Europe, including the use of Predator spyware in Greece. This led to the resignation of two high-ranking government officials, including the national intelligence director, in 2022.

In December of 2021, researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab uncovered Predator malware on the iPhone of a prominent Egyptian activist living in exile. In collaboration with Facebook, Citizen Lab found that Cytrox had users in various countries, such as Armenia, Greece, Indonesia, Madagascar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia.

In 2019, Tal Dilian, a former Israeli military officer, founded Intellexa. Dilian and Sara Hamou, a specialist in corporate off-shoring who has previously offered managerial services to Intellexa, have been penalized as well.

John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, stated that the sanctions represent a significant increase in the US’s efforts to slow down the spread of mercenary spyware.

The penalties against the makers of Predator were announced following the introduction of a new policy by the Biden administration to restrict visa access for overseas individuals implicated in the inappropriate use of corporate surveillance technology.

The visa regulations of the Democratic government affect individuals who have used commercial spyware to target individuals such as journalists, activists, those seen as dissidents, and members of marginalized communities, as well as their family members. Officials stated that the visa restrictions may also extend to those who aid or profit from the misuse of commercial spyware.

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Frank Bajak, a reporter from the Associated Press in Boston, contributed to the coverage of this story.

Source: wral.com