The United States has imposed sanctions over the Predator spyware used to target journalists and government officials.
On Tuesday, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets announced that two individuals and five entities associated with Intellexa Consortium, a Greece-based software vendor known for selling spyware and surveillance tools.
Predator is a suite of tools designed to infiltrate electronic devices with no user interaction.
Once it has compromised a device, Predator can steal data, share geolocation and access various mobile applications.
“The United States remains focused on establishing clear guardrails for the responsible development and use of these technologies while also ensuring the protection of human rights and civil liberties of individuals around the world,” said Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Among the individuals sanctioned are Tal Jonathan Dilian, founder of Intellexa and the architect behind the Predator spyware.
Dilian is a former Israel government intelligence officer who moved abroad and established the consortium in Greece, where laws on surveillance technology exports are a topic of debate.
The U.S. also sanctioned Ireland-based Intellexa Ltd and its subsidiary Thalestris Ltd, Hungary-based Cytrox Holdings ZRT, and North Macedonia-based Cytrox AD for their association with the consortium.
