The U.S. Treasury Department said Monday it imposed sanctions on five individuals and one entity associated with the Intellexa Consortium, a spyware firm, for their alleged role in developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology.
The technology presents a significant threat to the national security of the U.S., it said in a statement.
The Treasury Department said the Intellexa Consortium is a complex international web of decentralized companies, which built and commercialized highly invasive spyware products, primarily marketed under the brand-name "Predator."
Predator spyware is used to gain access to data stored and transmitted from the target's device, such as a cellphone, through one-click and zero-click attacks that require no user interaction for the spyware to infect the device, it said.
Successful spyware attacks by Predator can provide the spyware's operators with access to sensitive information on the victim's device, including photos, geolocation data, personal messages, and microphone records, it added.
"The United States will not tolerate the reckless propagation of disruptive technologies that threatens our national security and undermines the privacy and civil liberties of our citizens," Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith said in the statement.
"We will continue to hold accountable those that seek to enable the proliferation of exploitative technologies, while also encouraging the responsible development of technologies that align with international standards," he added.
