The US Treasury Department has announced a sanctions package against Intellexa, a spyware vendor and a network of European firms (including those in Greece). This network is responsible for the sale of a widely used mobile surveillance software known as Predator. The sanctions also target the leadership of Intellexa, as the firm has been involved in targeting US government officials.
US sanctions on Greece-based spyware Firm Intellexa, creator of Predator
The Treasury Department targeted two individuals and five entities linked to the Intellexa Consortium for their role in “developing, operating and distributing commercial spyware technology,” which the US government said was employed against journalists, dissidents, policy experts and US officials.
The sanctions freeze any US assets of those targeted and stop Americans from dealing with them, as well as those engaging in certain transactions with them being at risk of sanctioning.
They apply to two individuals: Tal Dillian, a former Israeli general and the founder of Intellexa, and Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, a corporate off-shoring specialist, per a Treasury Department fact sheet. And five firms: Greece-based Intellexa S.A., Ireland-based Intellexa Limited, North Macedonian-based Cytrox AD, Hungary-based Cytrox Holdings, and Ireland-based Thalestris Limited.
The consortium was already subject to trade restrictions under measures imposed by the Commerce Department in July 2023.
Today’s announcement represents the first time the US government has sanctioned a commercial spyware company, with the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson saying in a statement, “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.”
Intellexa is a well-known cyber intelligence entity which has received media attention in recent years after its software platform Predator – which enables mobile phone and internet surveillance – was allegedly captured on the devices of victims in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the US.
“Once a device is infected by the Predator spyware, the spyware can be leveraged for a variety of information stealing and surveillance capabilities—this includes the unauthorized extraction of data, geolocation tracking, and access to a variety of applications and personal information on the compromised device,” Treasury Department officials described in a statement.
Dillian launched the company in Israel but later moved abroad, expanding operations into Cyprus and Greece – where export control laws on surveillance technologies are less developed.
In recent years, the firm has been accused of servicing the Egyptian government along with Vietnam, according to security researchers and press reports.
Last year, a group of investigative news outlets reported that the Vietnamese government had attempted to implant spyware on the phones of members of congress using Intellexa’s tools.
The targeting occurred just as US and Vietnamese diplomats were negotiating a cooperation agreement aimed at countering Chinese influence in South East Asia, according to the Washington Post.