Security News > 2024 > March > U.S. sanctions Predator spyware operators for spying on Americans
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on two individuals and five entities linked to the development and distribution of the Predator commercial spyware used to target Americans, including government officials and journalists.
"Today, the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated two individuals and five entities associated with the Intellexa Consortium for their role in developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology used to target Americans, including U.S. government officials, journalists, and policy experts," reads a press release by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Intellexa's commercial spyware technologies, specifically a product named 'Predator,' have been used to target key persons worldwide, including the United States.
Common targets of Predator include government officials, journalists, politicians, activists, policy experts, and even high-ranking tech firm executives, with more details about Predator's targets found here.
This action from the U.S. government comes only days after Recorded Future revealed that despite the recent calls for tighter regulation in the commercial spyware space and the public outcry about Predator's shady deployment cases, the spyware was already spreading to new countries in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.
Google says spyware vendors behind most zero-days it discovers.