Predator / “Bomb” from the USA – Sanctions on Intellexa and its key executives – The references to Greece

Sanctions against two individuals and five entities associated with Intellexa Consortium, for their role in the “development, operation and distribution of commercial technology spyware» he imposed it US Department of the Treasury.

The United States government on Tuesday announced sanctions against Intellexa – which is noted to be involved in the Greek wiretapping scandal and sells Predator spyware -and its leadership, with the US Department of the Treasury underlining that the spy software it develops is being used against US officials, journalists, dissidents and policy experts.

Sanctions were imposed on Inetellexa founder Tal Jonathan Dilian (Dilian), Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou (Hamou), an offshoring specialist who has provided administrative services to the Intellexa Consortium, Intellexa SA (based in Greece), Intellexa Limited, Cytrox AD and the entities Cytrox Holdings Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag (Cytrox Holdings ZRT and Thalestris Limited. As the US points out, Intellexa SA, based in Greece has exported surveillance software to authoritarian regimes and was blacklisted by the US Department of Commerce on July 18, 2023, for trafficking cyber exploits used to access information systems, threatening the privacy and security of individuals and organizations worldwide.

As a result of the US sanctions, all the assets of the aforementioned persons and entities, which are either located in the US or owned or controlled by US nationals are “frozen” and must be reported to OFAC. On the same basis, any entities owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in total, by 50% or more by the persons in question, are also subject to sanctions.

In addition, and financial institutions and other persons involved or involved in transactions or activities with Tal Dilian, Sara Hamou and the companies Intellexa SA, Intellexa Limited, Cytrox AD, Cytrox Holdings Zartkoruen and Thalestris may be subject to sanctions. This also concerns them Their Greek partners and the Greek credit institutions with which the persons who were placed under sanctions do business.

“Prohibitions include doing anything contribution or provision of funds, goods or services from, to or for the benefit of any specified person, or receiving any contribution or provision of funds, goods or services from any such person,” the OFAC statement said.

The same announcement states that “the spread of commercial spyware carries distinct and increasing risks to the security of the United States and has been abused by foreign actors to enable human rights abuses and the targeting of dissidents around the world for repression and retaliation.” “Today’s actions represent a tangible step forward in discouraging the misuse of surveillance tools, which increasingly pose a risk to the security of the United States and our citizens,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “The United States remains focused on creating clear safeguards for the responsible development and use of these technologies while ensuring the protection of the human rights and civil liberties of individuals around the world.”

In relation to Predator the US government’s statement reads: “Since its inception in 2019, the Intellexa Consortium has acted as a marketing agency for a variety of ‘offensive’ cyber entities that offer commercial spyware and surveillance tools to enable targeted and mass tracking campaigns. These tools are packaged as a suite of Predator-branded tools, which can infiltrate a range of electronic devices through zero-click attacks that require no user interaction to infect the device with spyware. Once a device is infected with the Predator spyware, the interception softwares can be leveraged for a variety of information theft and surveillance capabilities—this includes unauthorized data extraction, geolocation tracking, and access to a variety of apps and personal information on the compromised device.”