US adds Athens-based surveillance firm Intellexa to export control list

The US Commerce Department on Tuesday added two European-based surveillance firms to its economic trade blacklist as part of efforts by President Joe Biden's administration to counter the misuse of commercial spyware.

The department added Hungary-based surveillance company Cytrox and Greece-based cyber-surveillance firm Intellexa, along with an Intellexa-related entity in Ireland and a Cytrox-related entity in North Macedonia, to its economic trade "entity list," which identifies companies and other organizations or individuals believed to threaten the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.

Cytrox and Intellexa are two of a number of firms that provide clients with the ability to hack into smartphones and other devices, giving them intimate access to their targets' private data. Like their better-known competitor, Israel's NSO Group, they...