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The United States has issued sanctions against Intellexa, linked to the black van, and other entities as part of cybersecurity principles, as revealed in a post on the U.S. Department of the Treasury's website.
According to Reuters, the U.S. has imposed sanctions on two individuals and five entities connected to Intellexa regarding the technology of spyware used against Americans. The sanctioned individuals are Tal Dilian and Sarah Alexandra Hamou, while the sanctioned entities include CYTROX AD, CYTROX HOLDINGS ZARTKORUEN MUKODO RESZVENYTARSASAG, INTELLEXA LIMITED, INTELLEXA S.A., and THALESTRIS LIMITED.
The announcement from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) specifies that these individuals and entities associated with the Intellexa consortium are implicated in the development, operation, and distribution of commercial spyware technology used to target Americans, including U.S. government officials, journalists, and policy experts. The proliferation of commercial spyware poses distinct and increasing risks to the security of the United States and has been abused by foreign entities to facilitate human rights abuses and target dissenters worldwide for repression and retaliation.
"These actions today represent a tangible step forward in deterring the misuse of surveillance tools, which increasingly pose a threat to the security of the United States and our citizens," stated Brian Nelson, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
As a result of today's action, all assets and interests in assets of the individuals mentioned above, located in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Additionally, all entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or collectively, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are blocked.
