US Sanctions Intellexa Executives Amid Heightened Crackdown on Predator Spyware

• The U.S. issued a new set of sanctions in its crackdown on commercial spyware merchants.
• The sanctions target five individuals and one company linked to Intellexa Consortium.
• The Predator spyware can exfiltrate sensitive data and notably targets government officials, journalists, and opposition politicians.

The new U.S. Treasury Department sanctions target five individuals and one entity linked to commercial spyware merchant Intellexa Consortium in an effort to combat the proliferation of surveillance tools. The Intellexa Consortium is a network known for its Predator spyware. 

These impact individuals are Greek national Felix Bitzios, the beneficial owner of an Intellexa company involved in supplying Predator spyware; top Intellexa Consortium executive Merom Harpaz; and Andrea Nicola Constantino Hermes Gambazzi. 

The latter owns Thalestris Limited and Intellexa Limited, which are both integral to the distribution of Predator spyware. Directors and managers of key Intellexa entities Panagiota Karaoli and Artemis Artemiou are also sanctioned.

British Virgin Islands-based Aliada Group is also sanctioned for facilitating significant financial transactions for Intellexa.

The Intellexa Consortium, founded by Tal Jonathan Dilian, is an intricate web of decentralized companies that specialize in the development of invasive spyware. 

The Predator spyware is capable of extracting sensitive data from compromised devices, including photos, geolocation data, personal messages, and microphone records. In the past, it generally targeted government officials, policy experts, journalists, and opposition politicians.

This crackdown aligns with broader U.S. government initiatives to address the misuse of surveillance technologies. Notably, the sanctions follow Apple's decision to drop its lawsuit against NSO Group, suggesting a shift in the commercial spyware landscape.

In other news, U.S.-based phone surveillance app mSpy was hit by a data breach that exposed company data and the details of almost 2.4 million of its past-decade customers. The information was stolen from the third-party Zendesk service, which offers customer support via chat.