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Gina Raimondo, Minister of Commerce, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on May 25, 2022.
Adam Gallica | CNBC
The Ministry of Commerce has blacklisted two European internet companies that build spyware, the Ministry of Commerce announce Tuesday, including technology touted by both companies that used to Clear meta users And it is said At least one meta employee.
The program exploited vulnerabilities in Android and iOS software and deployed hundreds of fraudulent Meta accounts to monitor activists, politicians, and journalists around the world.
The two companies — Intellexa and Cytrox — were described as traffickers “exploiting vulnerabilities used to access information systems, threatening the privacy and security of individuals and organizations around the world” in a press release from the Bureau of Industry and Security.
The companies are named together and collectively have subsidiaries in Greece, Ireland, Hungary and North Macedonia. Cytrox makes spyware called Predator, which dictatorial regimes have used to break into the cellphones of activists, politicians and journalists, according to a 2021 report. analysis Conducted by Citizen Lab.
Both have been added to the trade’s “Entity List,” an extremely difficult and restrictive export control list that bars US companies from providing technology, data, or intellectual property to said companies. Export control restrictions are being unleashed with increasing frequency, as successive administrations grapple with the overwhelming power they give the US government over domestic and foreign companies.
Meta warned in December 2021 Thousands of Facebook users targeted by spyware for rent, including Predator.
Another Intellexa spy product, Nebula, is a social media data collection and analysis tool, described as an essential product for law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Tal Dilian, Founder of Intellexa, Describe He himself is an “intelligence expert” with over 25 years of experience in the IDF.
“Intellexa develops and integrates technologies that enable law enforcement and intelligence agencies to collect and analyze data in the most advanced way possible,” says Dilian’s personal website.
The New York Times reported Widely on Intellexa’s Predator product, and the company’s efforts to sell it to a Ukrainian intelligence agency. Predator Intellexa was also used by Greek intelligence to spy on Meta Trust and Safety employee, The Times mentioned.
The Biden administration has shown an increasing willingness to label foreign companies, effectively denying them access to any US technology. The Trump administration has used export controls massively against Huawei. Since then, Commerce Department officials have added highly advanced semiconductor and networking technology to export control lists, blocking Chinese and Russian entities from obtaining the technology.
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