- OFAC removed Merom Harpaz, Andrea Gambazzi and Sara Hamou from its sanctions list
- They were previously sanctioned for alleged ties to Predator spyware via the Intellexa Consortium
- Predator spyware remains active; recent reports show the targeting of a Pakistani human rights lawyer
Merom Harpaz, Andrea Nicola Constantino Hermes Gambazzi and Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou – three individuals who were sanctioned by the US for alleged links to commercial spyware products have had their bans lifted recently.
In a new press release published by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) earlier this week, it was briefly stated that these three were deleted from OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list.
The announcement did not explain what changed and why these three are no longer under sanctions.
Once a person is placed on the OFAC SDN list, any assets they have under US jurisdiction are frozen, US persons and companies are generally prohibited from doing business with them, and violations can lead to severe civil or criminal penalties.
News of the sanctions first broke in March 2024 when Intellexa Consortium, the company behind the infamous Predator spyware, was said to be blacklisted. Among those sanctioned at the time was Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, an off-shoring specialist for a company that provides management services.
Spyware remains active
Half a year later, in September 2024, the US government initiated a new round of sanctions, which included, among others, Merom Harpaz (top executive of the consortium) and Andrea Nicola Constantino Hermes Gambazzi (the beneficial owner of Thalestris Limited and Intellexa Limited, members of the Intellexa Consortium).
Other members and business entities sanctioned at the time were not mentioned this time.
Predator is a piece of commercial spyware that provides access to data stored and transmitted from target devices such as smartphones. It’s a potent piece of malware that works without victim interaction and was reportedly often sold to authoritarian governments targeting political opponents, dissidents, journalists, human rights activists and the like.
However, the sanctions don’t seem to be working as well as reports from just a few weeks ago said that a Pakistani human rights lawyer was attacked by spyware via WhatsApp.
Via Hacker News
The best antivirus for all budgets
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, video unboxings, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
