US officials unveiled sanctions on Tuesday against entities linked to the Intellexa Consortium, citing their involvement in producing and disseminating commercial spyware utilized to target US officials, journalists and other individuals.
The US Department of the Treasury stated that it sanctioned five entities and two people linked to the Intellexa Consortium “for their role in developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology used to target Americans, including US government officials, journalists, and policy experts.”
The treasury department identified one of the individuals as Tal Dilian, a retired Israeli military intelligence officer, who founded and co-owns Intellexa, which serves as a "marketing label" for companies offering commercial spyware and surveillance tools.
The tools, the Treasury Department said, are packaged as a suite under the brand-name "Predator" spyware, able to infiltrate devices without user interaction.
"The Predator spyware has been deployed by foreign actors in an effort to covertly surveil US government officials, journalists, and policy experts," the Treasury said.
Among those targeted on Tuesday were Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, who provided managerial services to the group.
Five companies were also hit with sanctions over activities such as exporting Intellexa's surveillance tools to authoritarian regimes and working as a developer of the Predator spyware.
In July last year, Washington blacklisted Greece- and Ireland-incorporated units of Intellexa.
They were placed on the Commerce Department's Entities List, which tightly restricts Americans from doing business with them.
With AFP
The US Department of the Treasury stated that it sanctioned five entities and two people linked to the Intellexa Consortium “for their role in developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology used to target Americans, including US government officials, journalists, and policy experts.”
The treasury department identified one of the individuals as Tal Dilian, a retired Israeli military intelligence officer, who founded and co-owns Intellexa, which serves as a "marketing label" for companies offering commercial spyware and surveillance tools.
The tools, the Treasury Department said, are packaged as a suite under the brand-name "Predator" spyware, able to infiltrate devices without user interaction.
"The Predator spyware has been deployed by foreign actors in an effort to covertly surveil US government officials, journalists, and policy experts," the Treasury said.
Among those targeted on Tuesday were Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, who provided managerial services to the group.
Five companies were also hit with sanctions over activities such as exporting Intellexa's surveillance tools to authoritarian regimes and working as a developer of the Predator spyware.
In July last year, Washington blacklisted Greece- and Ireland-incorporated units of Intellexa.
They were placed on the Commerce Department's Entities List, which tightly restricts Americans from doing business with them.
With AFP
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