Security News > 2021 > November > US Dept of Commerce sanctions NSO Group, Positive Technologies, other makers of snoopware

The US government's Dept of Commerce on Wednesday sanctioned four companies in Israel, Russia, and Singapore for selling software used to break into computer systems and by foreign governments to suppress dissent.

"The United States is committed to aggressively using export controls to hold companies accountable that develop, traffic, or use technologies to conduct malicious activities that threaten the cybersecurity of members of civil society, dissidents, government officials, and organizations here and abroad," said US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in a statement.

The Commerce Department attributed the decision to sanction the four companies to the Biden-Harris administration's commitment to put human rights at the center of US foreign policy.

US companies may still do business with named entities, but such transactions are frowned upon: "BIS considers that transactions of any nature with listed entities carry a 'red flag' and recommends that US companies proceed with caution with respect to such transactions," the Commerce Department explains.

"NSO Group is dismayed by the decision given that our technologies support US national security interests and policies by preventing terrorism and crime, and thus we will advocate for this decision to be reversed," a company spokesperson said.

Ingleton described the Entity List inclusion as "a day of reckoning for NSO Group's investors" - which includes multiple US pension funds through their respective stakes in NSO Group backer Novalpina Capital - and questioned whether they will be willing to continue to bankroll a firm accused of violating human rights.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/11/03/us_sanctions_spyware/