The U.S. Commerce Department has placed two European-based Israeli-owned spyware companies on its trade blacklist, citing national security concerns. Intellexa S.A. in Greece and its entity Intellexa Limited in Ireland, and Cytrox AD in North Macedonia, along with its entity Cytrox Holdings Crt in Hungary, were added to the technology export blacklist, the Commerce Department…

Australian lawmakers confirmed a nationwide campaign was underway to remove China-made cameras from their constituency offices over fears they contain spyware. In a Senate estimates hearing on Feb. 14, Department of Finance officials said there were 65 offices that have Chinese-manufactured Hikvision and Dahua security cameras installed, with 45 offices yet to have the cameras…

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) is facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly working with Google to install “spyware” onto the Android devices of a million state residents without their knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Plaintiffs Robert Wright and Johnny Kula were among 1 million Massachusetts residents who had the state’s “COVID Exposure Settings: US-MA”…

Certain MPs, MPPs, and municipal politicians are known by Canadian intelligence to be paid by foreign agencies, a former senior officer for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) says. Michel Juneau-Katsuya appeared before the House of Commons Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on Aug. 9 where he said that Canadian intelligence agencies such as CSIS and the…

Privacy experts say police and government use of “extremely intrusive” spyware needs to be tightly controlled, and the technology should be outlawed for the general Canadian public. Former privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien told the committee he was not aware the RCMP has been using what it calls “on-device investigative tools” for more than a decade….

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino provided few details when questioned on Aug. 8 about his knowledge of the RCMP’s use of spyware technology capable of remote installation and surveillance on Canadians’ personal devices. Appearing before the House of Commons Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, Mendicino was hesitant to give direct answers to questions…

Canada’s privacy commissioner said the RCMP did not inform his office of its use of spyware technology that could be remotely installed on devices and used to monitor unsuspecting individuals. While appearing before the House of Commons Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee on Aug. 8, Philippe Dufresne said he first learned about the…

A parliamentary committee will begin exploring the RCMP’s use of spyware on Monday, diving deeper into an issue that’s sounded alarms for privacy and civil liberties groups across the country. The House of Commons ethics and privacy committee called for a summer study after the RCMP revealed its use of tools that covertly obtain data…

A parliamentary committee will hold hearings on the RCMP’s use of spyware and potential risks to the privacy rights of Canadians. The House of Commons privacy committee voted Tuesday to determine which “device investigation tools” the Mounties use and seek a list of judicial warrants obtained for deploying such software. The committee also requested a…

For more than a decade, LabMD owner Michael Daugherty told his story to anyone willing to listen: An allegedly rogue cybersecurity firm used FBI surveillance software in an attempt to extort him before colluding with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a malicious enforcement action that financially ruined his cancer research center. Throughout that time,…