WASHINGTON – The United States on Monday announced fresh sanctions against five individuals and a company associated with the Intellexa Consortium for their role in developing and distributing spyware “that presents a significant threat” to US national security.

The move comes months after the US government sanctioned Intellexa’s founder and other parties for their role in making and distributing commercial spyware used to target US officials, journalists and others.

The US Treasury said it had sanctioned another five individuals associated with Intellexa’s international web of companies allegedly involved in supplying the group’s Predator spyware to foreign governments.

They were targeted “for their role in developing, operating and distributing commercial spyware technology that presents a significant threat to the national security of the United States,” the Treasury said in a statement.

Predator spyware can be used to turn a target’s cellphone into a surveillance device and gain access to data stored and transmitted by the device.

“The United States will not tolerate the reckless propagation of disruptive technologies that threaten our national security and undermine the privacy and civil liberties of our citizens,” said acting Treasury under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Bradley Smith.

“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.”

Those sanctioned included Felix Bitzios, the owner of a consortium company the Treasury said was used to supply Predator spyware to a foreign government, and British Virgin Islands-based Aliada Group Inc, which allegedly “enabled tens of millions of dollars of transactions involving the network.”

Intellexa was established by former Israeli Defence Force intelligence officer Tal Dilian, who was previously associated with the NSO Group, creator of the notorious spyware Pegasus.

In March the United States sanctioned Dilian and five companies associated with the consortium. – Nampa/AFP