US Steps up Pressure on Intellexa Spyware Maker with New Sanctions

 

The US Treasury Department imposed further sanctions on five individuals and one entity connected to the Intellexa Consortium, a reportedly tainted holding company behind notorious spyware known as Predator. US officials say that even though more sanctions were imposed last year and again this year, additional steps were necessary because of the complicated network of corporate entities Intellexa had established to avoid responsibility.

Most notably, the sanctions talk around the activities of the Intellexa Consortium, who, while placing money through holding companies, continued to move funds and sell its Predator spyware into multiple holding companies. The new sanctions target these loopholes that enable companies such as Intellexa to engage in such activities, thus according to one senior administration official. To that extent, the sanctions prove consistent on the part of the U.S. government in an attempt to hold accountable all those entities that threaten the nation’s security and violate civil liberties.

How Predator Spyware Works

Known to steal sensitive information from devices via one-click and zero-click attacks that require little to no activity from the victim, predator spyware can trace people, monitor phone calls, and obtain access to the data of smartphones and other devices. Since 2019, this malware has spread to Android and iPhone devices globally, even affecting the U.S. government.

As recently confirmed, the Biden administration has made it a fact that over 50 US government employees have

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