The United States will impose visa restrictions on foreign individuals who have been involving the misuse of spyware, the latest effort by the Biden Administration to address the dangers of the commercial software that often is used by governments and law enforcement agencies to target and surveil journalists, activists, and other individuals.
The policy to deny visas to those looking to travel to the United States reportedly will be applied on a case-by-case basis and will affect spyware company executives in Europe and Israel who normally would be allowed into the United States without a visa through the United States' visa waiver program.
Now such people could be told they need to apply for a visa.
The restrictions will apply to those involved in the misuse of spyware against individuals, those who facilitate or profit from such misuse - including those who develop, direct, or control companies that sell the software to governments that abuse spyware - and the immediate family members of those subject to the restrictions.
The State Department's announcement comes days after a report surfaced that NSO Group's Pegasus spyware was used to target at least three dozen people between 2019 and September 2023, including journalists, activists, human rights lawyers, and civil society members.
The report was the product of a joint investigation by digital rights groups Access Now and the Citizen Lab, as well as local groups.
Fatafta said both the NSO Group and the governments it sells to must be held accountable.
A recent report by Google found that Pegasus and other such spyware is fueling the development of hacking tools used by cybercriminals.
In the 50-page report, Google's Threat Analysis Group said that half of the know zero-day exploits used against Google products and Android devices between mid-2014 and 2023 are attributable to such spyware, adding that TAG tracks about 40 such vendors that sell their software to governments.
Google's report goes into detail about individuals victimized by government-abused spyware, the myriad spyware vendors, and the cyberthreats that arise from the misuse of the software.
Earlier this month, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky detailed a lightweight method for detecting the presence of spyware in Apple iOS devices.
The Biden Administration has taken multiple steps to push back against the abusive use of spyware.
In March 2023, the president, citing national security concerns, issued an executive order banning the use by U.S. government agencies of commercial spyware that pose security or counterintelligence risks.
The Commerce Department has a growing entity list of spyware vendors - including NSO Group, Intellexa, and Cytrox - that U.S. organizations can no longer do business with.
On an international level, the United States joined with governments from 10 other countries - Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland - to agree to take steps to control the proliferation and use of commercial spyware.
This Cyber News was published on securityboulevard.com. Publication date: Tue, 06 Feb 2024 16:13:03 +0000