Notorious ‘Predator’ spyware firm Intellexa hit with new US sanctions
As the United States clamped down on the Intellexa group for the second time this year, advocates criticized Europe’s lack of action against commercial spyware creators.
By David Kenner
The United States leveled new sanctions against an international group of alleged senior figures from spyware group Intellexa, marking the second time this year the consortium has been targeted for the threat posed by its so-called “Predator” software.
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced the sanctions on Monday, naming five people and one offshore company that allegedly played a role in “developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology that presents a significant threat to the national security of the United States.”
The Intellexa consortium is a complex network of companies that has sold spyware technology to several repressive regimes, including a paramilitary group in Sudan and the Egyptian intelligence services. It was embroiled in a scandal in Greece after its Predator spyware was found to have infected the phones of businessmen, politicians, and journalists in that country.
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US Sanctions Spyware Enablers at Centre of Greek Wiretapping Scandal
The US Treasury has expanded its sanctions on people and companies associated with the misuse of the spyware Predator, which was at the centre of a scandal in Greece over the surveillance of politicians and journalists.
By Eleni Stamatoukou
September 17, 202411:46
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, on Monday sanctioned Felix Bitzios, beneficial owner of Intellexa Consortium, and five other people and one entity associated with it, for misuse of the illegal spyware Predator, which it described as a disruptive technology and a threat to US security.
“The United States will not tolerate the reckless propagation of disruptive technologies that threatens our national security and undermines the privacy and civil liberties of our citizens,” said the Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley T. Smith.
“We will continue to hold accountable those that seek to enable the proliferation of exploitative technologies, while also encouraging the responsible development of technologies that align with international standards,” he added.
Bitzios, beneficial owner of Intellexa Consortium, also acted as manager of Intellexa S.A., based in Greece, which has exported its surveillance tools to authoritarian regimes.
Continue reading at balkaninsight.com
US sanctions Greek enablers of Intellexa spyware
Sep 16, 2024
The US has imposed sanctions on five individuals and one entity involved in the Intellexa Consortium, which sold the illegal Predator spyware in Greece, found in dozens of phones, including those belonging politicians, journalists and businesspeople.
The sanctioned individuals include key figures involved in Greece’s wiretapping scandal, which became known in 2022.
Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it was sanctioning the individuals and entity “for their role in developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology that presents a significant threat to the national security of the United States.”
It added that the sanctions “complement concerted US government actions against commercial spyware vendors” that have already been “exercised on 13 individuals.”
“The United States will not tolerate the reckless propagation of disruptive technologies that threatens our national security and undermines the privacy and civil liberties of our citizens,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith.
Continue reading at www.ekathimerini.com
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