The Treasury Department announced on Tuesday that it has imposed sanctions on two individuals and a Greece-based commercial spyware company, Intellexa Consortium, for their involvement in developing and distributing technology used to target U.S. government officials, journalists, and policy experts. The company, headed by former Israeli military officer Tal Dilian, has been accused of selling and distributing commercial spyware and surveillance tools for targeted and mass surveillance campaigns.

The sanctions also target other entities associated with Intellexa, including North Macedonia-based Cytrox AD, Hungary-based Cytrox Holdings ZRT, and Ireland-based Thalestris Limited, for their roles in developing and distributing a package of tools known as Predator. This spyware allows users to infiltrate electronic devices through zero-click attacks, enabling unauthorized extraction of data, geolocation tracking, and access to personal information on compromised devices.

In a joint probe with Facebook, digital sleuths at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab discovered Predator spyware on the iPhone of a leading exiled Egyptian dissident in December 2021. The investigation revealed that Cytrox had customers in countries such as Armenia, Greece, Indonesia, Madagascar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia. The Biden administration officials stated that this is the first time the Treasury Department has sanctioned individuals or entities for the misuse of spyware.

Brian Nelson, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, emphasized the importance of establishing clear guardrails for the responsible development and use of surveillance technologies while protecting human rights and civil liberties. The Biden administration also recently unveiled a new policy that allows for visa restrictions on foreign individuals involved in the misuse of commercial spyware, targeting individuals who have targeted journalists, activists, dissidents, marginalized communities, or their family members. Sara Hamou, a corporate off-shoring specialist who provided managerial services to Intellexa, was also sanctioned as an individual in this case.