U.S. Blacklists Israeli Cyberarms Firms, NSO, Candiru

The US Commerce Department added the Israeli spyware firms NSO group and Candiru, alongside companies from Russia, and Singapore, to an entity list for activities contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests, a statement by the department said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Photo Insert: The U.S. is basing the blaclklist on evidence that these entities developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments.

"NSO Group and Candiru (Israel) were added to the Entity List based on evidence that these entities developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments," the statement read, adding that the spyware's tools were used "to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers."

“The US is committed to aggressively using export controls to hold companies accountable that develop, traffic, or use technologies to conduct malicious activities that threaten the cybersecurity of members of civil society, dissidents, government officials, and organizations here and abroad,” US Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo said.

The NSO group is the largest cyberespionage firm in Israel, valued at more than $1-billion, and specializing in cellphone hacking. Candiru, a younger company, specializes in hacking computers.

Over the years, countless investigations, spearheaded by the Pegasus Project, have been published on NSO in particular and the misuse of its spyware, the Israeli newspapers Haaretz and Jerusalem Post also reported.

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