March 6 (SeeNews) - The U.S. Treasury Department said its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions against Greece's Intellexa and North Macedonia's Cytrox associated with the Intellexa Consortium, for developing, operating, and distributing the Predator spyware used to target Americans.
Cytrox acts as a developer of the Predator spyware, while Greece's Intellexa has exported the surveillance technology to authoritarian regimes, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a press release on Tuesday.
The U.S. Treasury Department is also sanctioning Ireland-based Intellexa Limited and Thalestris Limited, Hungary-based Cytrox Holdings Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag, as well as the founder of the Intellexa Consortium, Tal Jonathan Dilian, and Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, who holds a leadership role in three linked companies.
Founded in 2019, the Intellexa Consortium has acted as a marketing label for the widespread dissemination of the Predator spyware, which enables unauthorised data extraction, geolocation tracking, and access to various applications and personal information upon infection of a targeted device. The software has been deployed by foreign actors to secretly surveil U.S. government officials, journalists, and policy experts, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
As a result of the measures, all property and interests in property of the sanctioned individuals and entities that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked. Thus, all transactions by U.S. persons within the United States that involve any property of designated persons are prohibited.