Tag Archive for: imposes

US imposes sanctions on spyware group members

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US imposes sanctions on spyware group members

by AFP Staff Writers

Washington (AFP) March 5, 2024






US authorities announced sanctions Tuesday on parties associated with Intellexa Consortium, citing their role in making and distributing commercial spyware used to target US officials, journalists and others.

Commercial surveillance tools “increasingly present a security risk to the United States and our citizens,” said Treasury Under Secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson.

In particular, the Intellexa Consortium was founded in 2019 and served as a “marketing label” for companies offering commercial spyware and surveillance tools.

The tools, the Treasury Department said, are packaged as a suite under the brand-name “Predator” spyware, able to infiltrate devices without user interaction.

“The Predator spyware has been deployed by foreign actors in an effort to covertly surveil US government officials, journalists, and policy experts,” the Treasury said.

Among those targeted on Tuesday were Intellexa Consortium founder Tal Jonathan Dilian and Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, who has provided managerial services to the group.

Five companies were also hit with sanctions, over activities such as exporting Intellexa’s surveillance tools to authoritarian regimes and working as a developer of the Predator spyware.

In July last year, Washington blacklisted Greece- and Ireland-incorporated units of Intellexa.

They were placed on the Commerce Department’s Entities List, which tightly restricts Americans from doing business with them.

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OFAC Imposes New Sanctions To Thwart Ransomware – Technology

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On September 21, 2021, the US Treasury Department’s Office
of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) levied its first
sanctions against a Russian-operated virtual currency exchange
involved in ransomware payments and published an updated advisory
on sanctions risks for ransomware payments. At the same time,
Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo was careful to
underscore that “the vast majority of activity that’s
happening in the virtual currencies is legitimate activity.”
The actions form part of what the Treasury Department described as
a whole-of-government effort targeting ransomware networks and
certain foreign virtual currency exchanges – those that are
either illicit or operate at the edges of legality – that
support them. In a ransomware attack, a cyber actor uses malware to
encrypt the data on a victim’s computer system and only
decrypts it if the victim pays a ransom, usually in
cryptocurrency.

OFAC targeted only one, Russian-operated virtual currency
exchange, but its action signals a broader focus on intermediary
parties that launder ransom payments or otherwise facilitate
ransomware attacks. The September 21, 2021 advisory (the “Updated
Advisory”) expands on the guidance provided in its October 2020
predecessor about OFAC’s expectations of how victims and
others should act both before, during, and after an attack. All
companies, especially those in industries such as financial
services that are often targeted by ransomware attacks, and the
cybersecurity firms that help victims manage attacks, should review
the Updated Advisory and incorporate its guidance into their
ransomware planning.

New Sanctions and Updated Advisory on Cryptocurrency

US companies are generally prohibited from engaging in any
financial transactions with persons identified on OFAC’s
Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons
(“SDN”) List, and with those located in certain
sanctioned countries or territories, including Cuba, Iran, and the
Crimea region of Ukraine. Non-US companies may also violate US
sanctions if they cause a US person to violate the sanctions
prohibitions. And, as OFAC indicates in the Updated Advisory, a
ransomware payment made…

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India imposes security lockdown in disputed Kashmir

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Authorities also suspended internet services and most cellphone networks … Authorities imposed an indefinite security lockdown around midnight as government forces laid steel barricades and razor …
internet security – read more

The law of war imposes limits on cyber attacks too – ICRC (press release)

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The law of war imposes limits on cyber attacks too
ICRC (press release)
Cyber warfare is limited by rules, and civilian computers, networks and cyber infrastructure are protected against cyber attacks. These are among the conclusions reached by a group of legal and military experts in a manual on international law …

cyber warfare – read more