New Delhi: The US Department of Commerce on Tuesday, July 18 put two Europe-based and Israeli-owned surveillance firms, known for developing and selling the Predator spyware, on a trade blacklist after accusing them of “threatening the privacy and security of individuals and organisations worldwide”.The two companies, Intellexa in Greece and Cytrox in Hungary, as well as their related entities in Ireland and North Macedonia, were added to the ‘Entity list’, which means that any license-application export of goods or services from the US to these companies will be under “a presumption of denial”.It is part of the Biden administration’s crackdown on the makers of commercial spyware that is sold to intelligence agencies and law-enforcement organisations.Earlier in March, the Financial Times reported that Intellexa’s Predator spyware was among the products that the Indian government was looking for as alternate to the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware that had already been blacklisted by the US government.In 2021, The Wire, as part of an international consortium of media groups led by French non-profit Forbidden Stories, investigated how the phone numbers of journalists, opposition leaders, government critics and activists were on a list of presumed Pegasus targets accessed by Forbidden Stories. The NSO Group claims that it only sells its spyware to “vetted governments”, but has declined to identify client countries.In November 2021, the US had put the NSO Group and another Israeli firm, Candiru, on the blacklist.Just like when it blacklisted NSO, the US Department of Commerce determined that the two European firms “used [their cyber exploits] to gain access to information systems, thereby threatening the privacy and security of individuals and organisations worldwide”, and that their activities were “contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests”.The New York Times reported last year that India purchased the Pegasus spyware from Israel as part of wider defence deal in 2017.Also Read: The Supreme Court on Pegasus: Two Short Steps Away From the TruthWith Pegasus becoming a political hot potato, FT reported that Modi government officials had become concerned over the “PR problem”, since human rights group could trace the use of Pegasus while Apple and WhatsApp were contacting phones that had been infected.The report had identified Predator, which was also developed by Israeli military veterans just as Pegasus was, as one of the spywares that India was seriously considering.While the Predator spyware was developed by Cytrox, it is sold by Greece-headquartered Intellexa.As per Haaretz, the two firms are owned by different Israeli nationals, including the former commander of the Israeli army’s intelligence select technology unit, Tal Dilian.Quoting an unnamed source, Haartez reported that the blacklist of NSO and Candiru had led many cyber-espionage firms to move their operations outside of Israel.“The decision to sanction them (Cytrox and Intellexa) makes sense – it shows that even if you try to operate abroad, it doesn’t matter if it’s from a tax haven or a spyware regulation haven – the US will find and stop you,” the source told the Israeli newspaper.Toronto University’s Citizen Lab had first brought the then-little-known Predator spyware into the spotlight in December 2021, when it found the cyber-espionage tool on the devices of two Egyptian nationals.After a Greek journalist had complained that his country’s intelligence service had infected his phone with Predator, a prosecutor opened an investigation, Reuters reported last year. The news agency also found out in August 2022 that the head of Greek intelligence admitted to a parliamentary panel that the journalist was correct.The revelations had put political pressure on the Greek government to explain how the spyware was used against journalists and opposition members. The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had claimed that the surveillance was being conducted without the government’s knowledge.An NYT investigation in December 2022 claimed the Greek firm was exporting to other countries with human rights concerns, in possible violation of EU legislations.In March this year, NYT reported on a double Greek and American national working with Meta, who was placed on a year-long surveillance program through Predator by Greece’s national intelligence service.
