The United States (U.S.) Treasury Department announced that it has sanctioned two individuals and five entities associated with the Intellexa Consortium ”for their roles in the development, operation, and distribution of commercial spy technology used to target Americans, including U.S. government officials, journalists, and policy experts.“
The Treasury Department identified one of the individuals as Tal Dilian, a retired Israeli military intelligence officer who is the founder and co-owner of Intellexa.
According to a Reuters report, Dilian started the company in Israel but later moved abroad, setting up operations in Cyprus and Greece.
In addition to operating as a single company, Intellexa owns, invests in and partners with other spy firms in a consortium model, according to analysts.
“Once a device is infected with Predator spyware, the spyware can be used for a variety of information theft and surveillance capabilities—including unauthorized data extraction, geolocation tracking, and access to various applications and personal information from the compromised device,” Treasury Department officials said in a statement.
