The US government's Dept of Commerce on Wednesday sanctioned four companies in Israel, Russia, and Singapore for selling software used to break into computer systems and by foreign governments to suppress dissent.
The department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added Israel-based firms NSO Group and Candiru to its Entity List "based on evidence that these entities developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used these tools to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers."
BIS also added Russia-based Positive Technologies, sanctioned in April for selling weaponized software to Russia, and Singapore-based Computer Security Initiative Consultancy Pte Ltd (COSEINC) for offering software used "to gain unauthorized access to information systems."
“The United States 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," said US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in a statement.
The Commerce Department attributed the decision to sanction the four companies to the Biden-Harris administration's commitment to put human rights at the center of US foreign policy.
Inclusion on the Entity List disallows the export of hardware and software in the US to named organizations or individuals unless approved by the Commerce Department. US ..
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