U.S. blacklists two people, three companies linked to commercial spyware

March 5 (UPI) -- The United States has announced sanctions against two people and five entities linked to a commercial spyware consortium, as the Biden administration continues to target the misuse of this growing security threat.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury blacklisted two executives and three companies associated with Intellexa Consortium, which the federal agency described as "a marketing label for a variety of offensive cyber companies that offer commercial spyware and surveillance tools to enable targeted and mass surveillance campaigns."

The Treasury blamed the consortium for enabling the proliferation of commercial spyware around the world, including to authoritarian regimes, specifically its Predator spyware, which has been used by foreign actors to surveil U.S. government officials, journalists and policy experts, it said.

"Today's actions represent a tangible step forward in discouraging the misuse of commercial surveillance tools, which increasingly present a security risk to the United States and our citizens," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said 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."

Individuals sanctioned Tuesday include 62-year-old Tal Jonathan Dilian, the founder of the Intellexa Consortium, and 39-year-old Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, a corporate off-shoring specialist who has provided the company with managerial services. According to the Treasury, Dilian is an Israeli who holds citizenship in both Israel and Malta, while Hamou was born in Poland but resides in Cyprus.

The Greece-based software development company Intellexa S.A., in which Hamou holds a leadership position, was blacklisted for being a part of the consortium, as was the Ireland-based Intellexa Limited.

Both Intellexa S.A. and Intellexa Limited were added to the U.S. Commerce Department's Entity List in July.

The announcement comes as the Biden administration has been working to install domestic and international protections on the use of commercial spyware, which are powerful and invasive tools that can be used to attack and intimidate political opponents, restrict freedoms of expression and assembly, as well as enable other human rights violations.

Last year, President Joe Biden signed an executive order prohibiting the U.S. government's use of commercial spyware on grounds that its proliferation poses risks to national security and foreign policy interests.

At the same time, the United States along with 10 other democratic nations issued a joint statement announcing they were partnering to counter commercial spyware.

And earlier this month, the U.S. State Department announced new powers to impose visa restrictions on foreign nationals who misuse commercial spyware.

"This action supports the Biden-Harris Administration's government-wide effort to counter the risks posed by commercial spyware and to establish robust protections against the misuse of such tools," the Treasury said Tuesday.