CNN — More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers have called on the Biden administration to sanction four cyber surveillance firms for "enabling human rights abuses" by "selling powerful surveillance technology to authoritarian governments."
The letter, led by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff of California, asks the Treasury Department to sanction Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group, Emirati cybersecurity firm DarkMatter and European surveillance firms Nexa Technologies and Trovicor -- as well as the firms' top executives.
The lawmakers allege that the private market for hacking tools used to spy on journalists and diplomats has run amok, and they want the Biden administration to expand its crackdown on the invasive software.
The letter follows reporting this month from Reuters and CNN that the iPhones of about a dozen State Department employees had been hacked using potent spyware made by NSO Group. The company said in a previous statement that it had cut off the "relevant customers' access" to its systems and is investigating the matter.
In an emailed statement to CNN, an NSO Group spokesperson said it contributes to US national security interests and investigations and terminates contractors with customers that are suspected of violating its policies. Trovicor and Nexa Technologies did not respond to a request for comment. DarkMatter could not be reached for comment.
The Treasury Department declined to comment.
The Biden administration has moved to curb sales of hacking tools while pledging to make human rights a key tenet of US cybersecurity policy. The Commerce Department has already moved to block NSO Group and three other firms -- Candiru, Positive Technologies and Computer Security Initiative Consultancy -- from doing business with US tech fi ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
