U.S. blacklists two firms that built Meta, iOS and Android spyware

U.S. Commerce Department blacklists two European cyber firms that make spyware Announce Tuesday, including technology touted by the two companies monitor meta user According to reports At least one Meta employee.

The software exploited vulnerabilities in Android and iOS software to deploy hundreds of spoofed Meta accounts to spy on activists, politicians, and journalists around the world.

In a BIS press release, Intellexa and Cytrox were jointly described as traffickers “used to gain access to information systems and threaten the privacy and security of individuals and organizations worldwide.”

The companies are named together and have subsidiaries in Greece, Ireland, Hungary and North Macedonia.According to a 2021 report, Cytrox produces spyware called Predator that authoritarian regimes have used to hack into the phones of activists, politicians and journalists analyze Conducted by Citizen Lab.

Both have been added to the Commerce Department’s “Entity List,” a highly onerous and restrictive export control list that prevents U.S. companies from providing technology, data or intellectual property to designated companies. Export control restrictions have been imposed with increasing frequency, and successive administrations have grappled with the enormous power the U.S. government wields over domestic and foreign businesses.

Meta warns in December 2021 Thousands of Facebook users learned they had been targeted by spyware-for-hire software including Predator.

Another spy product from Intellexa, Nebula, is a social media data collection and analysis tool that has been touted as a must-have for law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Tal Dilian, founder of Intellexa, describe He is an “intelligence specialist” himself, with over 25 years of experience in the Israel Defense Forces.

“Intellexa develops and integrates technologies that enable law enforcement and intelligence agencies to collect and analyze data in the most advanced ways,” Dilian’s personal website states.

The New York Times reported Widely About Intellexa’s Predator product, and the company’s efforts to sell it to Ukrainian intelligence agencies.Greek intelligence agencies also used Intellexa’s Predator to spy on Meta trust and security staff, according to The Times report.

The Biden administration has shown an increasing willingness to designate foreign companies as an effective way to curb their access to any U.S. technology. The Trump administration’s export controls on Huawei have played a huge role. Commerce Department officials have since added highly advanced semiconductor and networking technology to export control lists and blocked Chinese and Russian entities from obtaining the technology.