WASHINGTON, November 3. /TASS/. The US authorities claim that Positive Technologies, a Russian information security company, as well as two Israeli and one Singaporean firms, are involved in malicious activities in cyberspace. The US Department of Commerce released the corresponding statement on Wednesday.
According to the statement, the four companies were added to the Entity List "for engaging in activities that are contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States." The four entities are located in Israel, Russia, and Singapore. They are subject to various export restrictions.
The US Department of Commerce put Positive Technologies (Russia), and Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE. LTD. (Singapore) to the Entity List "based on a determination that they traffic in cyber tools used to gain unauthorized access to information systems, threatening the privacy and security of individuals and organizations worldwide."
According to the statement, Israeli companies NSO Group and Candiru were put on the list "based on evidence that these entities developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used these tools to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers."
The US authorities claim that these tools were used "to conduct transnational repression, which is the practice of authoritarian governments."
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo announced that the US authorities are "committed to aggressively using export controls to hold companies accountable that develop, traffic, or use technologies to conduct malicious activities that threaten the cybersecurity of members of civil society, dissidents, government officials, and organizations here and abroad".