Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Commerce sanctioned NSO Group and other foreign companies over malicious cyberactivity, the department's Bureau of Industry and Security announced Wednesday.
The four groups blacklisted are located in Israel, Russia and Singapore. BIS determined that the groups acted "contrary to the foreign policy and national security interested of the U.S."
Russia-based Positive Technologies, Singapore-based Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE. LTD. and Israel-based Candiru are others on the Entity List.
The move comes days after India's Supreme Court ordered a panel to investigate Israeli NSO Group's Pegasus spyware, and three months after a consortium of journalists revealed that governments hacked journalists and activists using the spyware.
"NSO Group and Candiru (Israel) were added to the Entity List based on evidence that these entities developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used these tools to maliciously target government officials, journalists, business people, activists, academics, and embassy workers," BIS stated.
