The US government on Tuesday announced sanctions against the founder of the notorious spyware company Intellexa and one of his business partners.
This is the first time that the U.S. government has targeted specific individuals in addition to companies with sanctions related to the misuse of commercial spyware. And this means an intensification of efforts by the White House and the US government to rein in the spyware industry.
Brian E. Nelson, the U.S. Treasury Department's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said: “Today's action is concrete progress in stopping the misuse of commercial surveillance tools that increase security risks to the United States and its people. ”. As stated in the press release. “The United States remains committed to establishing clear guardrails for the responsible development and use of these technologies while ensuring protection of the human rights and civil liberties of individuals around the world.”
The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Intellexa founder and spyware industry veteran Tal Dilian. And Sarah Alexandra Faisal Hamou, who is less famous than Dillian.
According to the Treasury Department, Hamou held a leadership role at Intellexa, was an expert in offshoring, and provided management services to the company, including renting office space in Greece.
The U.S. government alleges that Hamou, Dillian and their companies were involved in developing spyware that was used to target Americans, including U.S. government officials, journalists and policy experts. The government provided no evidence to support claims that Intellexa spyware was used against U.S. government employees.
The sanctions also target the Intellexa Consortium, which includes Greece-based spyware developer Intellexa SA, which exports tools to authoritarian regimes. Ireland-based Intellexa Limited will act as the consortium's reseller. Cytrox AD, a consortium company based in North Macedonia. Cytrox Holdings ZRT, based in Hungary, developed the Predator spyware. and Ireland-based Talestris Limited.
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Sanctions are a key tool of the U.S. government bureaucracy against cybercriminals, ransomware attackers, and now spyware creators. Sanctions are issued by the U.S. Treasury to make it illegal for U.S. individuals or companies to do business with sanctioned entities, such as paying for access to spyware in this case. By naming and imposing sanctions on Dillian and his associates, the U.S. government aims to make it much harder for individuals to benefit from commercial surveillance.
The sanctions in this case mean that U.S. companies and individuals are prohibited from doing business with Intellexa, Cytrox, Dilian and Hamou, including financial transactions and material and technical assistance. Ta. In background calls with the media, reporters agreed not to name government officials.
Mr. Dillian and Mr. Hamou could not be reached for comment.
These sanctions particularly affect Dilian and Hamou, but they also send a message to others in the spyware industry.
“The impact and scale on these two people is going to change their lives. Their lives as they know it are over,” said Toronto, which has investigated government spyware for more than a decade. said John Scott Railton, a senior researcher at the university's Citizen Lab.
“If I were a mercenary spyware company, I'd be really worried,” Scott-Railton added. “The reckless companies at the center of this issue will feel the great displeasure of the U.S. government.”
Today's sanctions are the latest in a series of enforcement actions taken by the Biden administration against commercial spyware makers in recent years.
In 2021, the Department of Commerce imposed export restrictions on NSO Group, one of the most well-known spyware makers, and Candiru, another Israeli-based spyware maker. And in 2023, similar regulations were imposed on Cytrox and Intellexa.
And earlier this year, the U.S. government announced that the State Department could impose visa restrictions on people it believes have been involved in or facilitated commercial spyware exploits around the world.