Cytrox

Last updated

Cytrox
Founded2017
Key people
Ivo Malinkovski (CEO)
OwnerTal Dilian
Subsidiaries Cytrox Holdings Zrt (Hungary)
Cytrox AD (North Macedonia)
Balinese Ltd. (Israel)
Peterbald Ltd. (Israel)

Cytrox is a company established in 2017 that makes malware used for cyberattacks and covert surveillance. Its Predator spyware was used to target Egyptian politician Ayman Nour in 2021 and to spy on 92 phones belonging to businessmen, journalists, politicians, government ministers and their associates in Greece. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce added the Cytrox companies Cytrox AD in North Macedonia, and Cytrox Holdings Crt in Hungary to its Entity List and on March 5, 2024, the U.S. Department of Treasury imposed sanctions upon Cytrox AD of North Macedonia and the Intellexa Consortium, which is the parent firm of Cytrox AD, "for trafficking in cyber exploits used to gain access to information systems, threatening the privacy and security of individuals and organizations worldwide." [1] [2] [3]

Contents

History

Cytrox was established in 2017, reportedly as a startup in North Macedonia and received initial funding from Israel Aerospace Industries. [4] Its Crunchbase article describes it as providing an "operational cyber solution" to governments, including gathering information from devices and cloud services. [5] Cytrox's CEO is Ivo Malinkovski. [5] [6] A review of corporate registry documents by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab indicated that Cytrox has a presence in Israel and Hungary. [5]

In 2019, Forbes reported that Cytrox was rescued by Tal Dilian, a former commander of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), who acquired the company for under $5 million. [7] Dilian served in the IDF for 25 years prior to his departure, following accusations that he had unlawfully enriched himself. [8] Dilian demonstrated the company's surveillance kit to Forbes by hacking into a Huawei device and obtaining its WhatsApp messages without clicks from the victim. [7] [8]

The Citizen Lab said in 2021 that Cytrox was part of an alliance known as Intellexa, which it called "a marketing label for a range of mercenary surveillance vendors that emerged in 2019." [5] [9] Dilian founded the Intellexa Group in 2018; the Intellexa Alliance combines the Intellexa Group and Nexa, a group of surveillance companies that operates mainly in France. [10]

In December 2021, Meta Platforms announced that Cytrox and six other surveillance-for-hire groups had been banned from using its platforms to target other users, in response to the Citizen Lab's findings about Cytrox's Predator spyware being used to target two Egyptian dissidents in June. Meta also announced it had removed over 1,500 Facebook and Instagram accounts associated with the seven companies, which it said were used to conduct social engineering, reconnaissance and sending malicious links to victims in over 100 countries. [11] [6]

In July 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce added the Cytrox companies Cytrox AD in North Macedonia, and Cytrox Holdings Crt in Hungary to its Entity List, after determining that they posed a threat to the U.S.'s national security and foreign policy interests. [12] [13] [14] [15]

Predator

Predator is spyware developed by Cytrox that targets the Android and iOS operating systems. [9] In May 2022, researchers at Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) reported that Predator bundled five zero-day exploits in one package and sold it to several government-backed actors, who used it in three separate campaigns. According to the researchers, Predator worked closely with a component named Alien, which "lives inside multiple privileged processes and receives commands from Predator." [16] [9]

An analysis of the spyware conducted by Cisco Talos in May 2023 revealed that the spyware's Alien component actively implements the low-level functionality required by Predator to surveil its targets, instead of merely acting as a loader for Predator as was previously understood. In Talos's sample, Alien exploited five vulnerabilities, four of which affected Google Chrome and the last of which affected Linux and Android, to infect the targeted devices. [17] [9] After infecting a device, Predator has full access to its microphone, camera and user data such as contacts and text messages. [18] [19] Additionally, Predator has access to a device's location services and messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal. It also allows hackers to intercept and falsify messages. [19]

An October 2023 investigation conducted by news organisations led by the European Investigative Collaborations network, known as the Predator Files, found that Predator has been sold to at least 25 countries, including Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jordan, Kenya, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. [18] Reportedly it was also sold to the Rapid Support Forces in the Sudan. [20] [21]

High-profile targets

Egypt

In December 2021, the Citizen Lab reported that Predator was used to hack the devices of two individuals, Egyptian opposition politician Ayman Nour and an unnamed exiled journalist, in June. [5] [6] [9] As a result, Apple was forced to release a software update for iOS to close the zero-day exploits used to perform the attack. [22]

In September 2023, researchers at the Citizen Lab and the TAG reported that Egyptian opposition politician Ahmed Tantawi was targeted using Predator after announcing his presidential bid. The Citizen Lab said the effort likely failed due to Tantawi having his phone in "lockdown mode", which is recommended by Apple for iPhone users at high risk. [23] [24] [25] It also said it had "high confidence" that the attack was conducted by the Egyptian government. [24] Apple subsequently issued security updates to patch the vulnerabilities exploited by Predator. [24] [25]

Greece

During the 2022 Greek wiretapping scandal, it was revealed that Predator was being used to surveil several politicians (including opposition politician Nikos Androulakis) and journalists, with the Greek government reportedly being implicated in buying and utilising Predator. [26] [27] The Greek government admitted to spying on journalist Thanasis Koukakis, but denied using Predator or maintaining any association with Intellexa. [28] In October 2022, Koukakis sued Intellexa and its executive for breach of privacy. [29] [28]

In March 2023, The New York Times reported that Artemis Seaford, a dual U.S.-Greek national and former security policy manager at Meta, had her phone infected with Predator while in Greece. [30] [31]

In July 2023, the investigation team of the Hellenic Data Protection Authority announced that it had found 220 text messages containing a link polluted with Predator, that had been sent to 92 telephone numbers in order to turn them into spying devices. The news website Inside Story published the content of many of them, [32] [33] which had been sent mostly in 2021. Their recipients included many politicians, ministers and their associates, including associates of the Prime Minister (e.g. Dimitris Avramopoulos, Giorgos Patoulis, Giorgos Gerapetritis, Kostis Hatzidakis, Thanos Plevris, Michalis Chrysochoidis, Adonis Georgiadis, Nikos Dendias, Christos Spirtzis), businessmen (e.g. Theodoros Karipidis  [ el ]), journalists, EYP cadres, at least one bishop and the editor of the newspaper Kathimerini , Alexis Papachelas. These names had been included in a list of persons alleged to have been spied upon by EYP and Predator, which had been published in November 2022 by the Documento newspaper. [33]

United States

In October 2023, various American lawmakers were targeted by Vietnam using Predator, including Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Senators John Hoeven (R-ND), Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Gary Peters (D-MI). [34] Experts on Asia at various think tanks and several journalists, including CNN's lead national security reporter Jim Sciutto, were also targeted. [35]

Sanctions

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a family photo with Commercial Spyware Joint Statement Signatories in Seoul, Republic of Korea on March 18, 2024 United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken participates in a family photo with Commercial Spyware Joint Statement Signatories in Seoul, Republic of Korea on March 18, 2024.jpg
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a family photo with Commercial Spyware Joint Statement Signatories in Seoul, Republic of Korea on March 18, 2024

On March 5, 2024, the United States Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions against five entities and two individuals it described as key enablers of the Intellexa Consortium and Predator spyware by placing them on OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List: [3] [36]

See also

Notes

  1. Tal Dilian served in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) as an intelligence officer attaining the rank of general. He had an estimated wealth of more the $12 billion in August 2019. He uses Cyprus as his base for his surveillance activities. [7] [36] [37] [38]
  2. Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou was born in Warsaw to a Polish mother and Lebanese father, attended law school in England, joined Trident Trust in December 2008, is closely associated with DJC Accountants of Cyprus and allegedly established numerous entities in support of Tal Dilian's interests using Cyprus as a hub. Trident Trust allegedly supports members of the inner circle of Vladimir Putin. Sara Hamou is the ex-wife of Tal Dilian and his business partner and is an attorney based in Cyprus that allegedly has implemented numerous surveillance projects in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. [36] [38] [39]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cybercrime</span> Type of crime based in computer networks

Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or networks. These crimes involve the use of technology to commit fraud, identity theft, data breaches, computer viruses, scams, and expanded upon in other malicious acts. Cybercriminals exploit vulnerabilities in computer systems and networks to gain unauthorized access, steal sensitive information, disrupt services, and cause financial or reputational harm to individuals, organizations, and governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citizen Lab</span> Digital research center at the University of Toronto

The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, Canada. It was founded by Ronald Deibert in 2001. The laboratory studies information controls that impact the openness and security of the Internet and that pose threats to human rights. The organization uses a "mixed methods" approach which combines computer-generated interrogation, data mining, and analysis with intensive field research, qualitative social science, and legal and policy analysis methods. The organization has played a major role in providing technical support to journalists investigating the use of NSO Group's Pegasus spyware on journalists, politicians and human rights advocates.

Cyber spying, cyber espionage, or cyber-collection is the act or practice of obtaining secrets and information without the permission and knowledge of the holder of the information using methods on the Internet, networks or individual computers through the use of proxy servers, cracking techniques and malicious software including Trojan horses and spyware. Cyber espionage can be used to target various actors- individuals, competitors, rivals, groups, governments, and others- in order to obtain personal, economic, political or military advantages. It may wholly be perpetrated online from computer desks of professionals on bases in far away countries or may involve infiltration at home by computer trained conventional spies and moles or in other cases may be the criminal handiwork of amateur malicious hackers and software programmers.

An advanced persistent threat (APT) is a stealthy threat actor, typically a state or state-sponsored group, which gains unauthorized access to a computer network and remains undetected for an extended period. In recent times, the term may also refer to non-state-sponsored groups conducting large-scale targeted intrusions for specific goals.

Cyberwarfare by China is the aggregate of all combative activities, including cyberattacks, attributed to the organs of the People's Republic of China and various related advanced persistent threat (APT) groups from the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FinFisher</span> Surveillance software

FinFisher, also known as FinSpy, is surveillance software marketed by Lench IT Solutions plc, which markets the spyware through law enforcement channels.

Cyberweapons are commonly defined as malware agents employed for military, paramilitary, or intelligence objectives as part of a cyberattack. This includes computer viruses, trojans, spyware, and worms that can introduce malicious code into existing software, causing a computer to perform actions or processes unintended by its operator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tailored Access Operations</span> Unit of the U.S. National Security Agency

The Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO), now Computer Network Operations, and structured as S32, is a cyber-warfare intelligence-gathering unit of the National Security Agency (NSA). It has been active since at least 1998, possibly 1997, but was not named or structured as TAO until "the last days of 2000," according to General Michael Hayden.

HackingTeam was a Milan-based information technology company that sold offensive intrusion and surveillance capabilities to governments, law enforcement agencies and corporations. Its "Remote Control Systems" enable governments and corporations to monitor the communications of internet users, decipher their encrypted files and emails, record Skype and other Voice over IP communications, and remotely activate microphones and camera on target computers. The company has been criticized for providing these capabilities to governments with poor human rights records, though HackingTeam states that they have the ability to disable their software if it is used unethically. The Italian government has restricted their licence to do business with countries outside Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan Marquis-Boire</span> New Zealand hacker, journalist, and security researcher

Morgan Marquis-Boire is a New Zealand-born hacker, journalist, and security researcher. Marquis-Boire previously served as an advisor to the Freedom of the Press Foundation. He was a Special Advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and advisor to the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute. He was the Director of Security at First Look Media and a contributing writer at The Intercept. He has been profiled by Wired, CNN, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Tages Anzeiger. He was one of Wired Italy 's Top 50 people of 2014. In March 2015 he was named a Young Global Leader.

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The cyber-arms industry are the markets and associated events surrounding the sale of software exploits, zero-days, cyberweaponry, surveillance technologies, and related tools for perpetrating cyberattacks. The term may extend to both grey and black markets online and offline.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NSO Group</span> Israeli cyber-espionage and malware firm

NSO Group Technologies is an Israeli cyber-intelligence firm primarily known for its proprietary spyware Pegasus, which is capable of remote zero-click surveillance of smartphones. It employed almost 500 people as of 2017.

Pegasus is a spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group that is designed to be covertly and remotely installed on mobile phones running iOS and Android. While NSO Group markets Pegasus as a product for fighting crime and terrorism, governments around the world have routinely used the spyware to surveil journalists, lawyers, political dissidents, and human rights activists. The sale of Pegasus licenses to foreign governments must be approved by the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

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The Pegasus Project is an international investigative journalism initiative that revealed governments' espionage on journalists, opposition politicians, activists, business people and others using the private Pegasus spyware developed by the Israeli technology and cyber-arms company NSO Group. Pegasus is ostensibly marketed for surveillance of "serious crimes and terrorism". In 2020, a target list of 50,000 phone numbers leaked to Forbidden Stories, and an analysis revealed the list contained the numbers of leading opposition politicians, human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and other political dissidents.

Candiru is a Tel Aviv-based technology company offering surveillance and cyberespionage technology to governmental clients.

FORCEDENTRY, also capitalized as ForcedEntry, is a security exploit allegedly developed by NSO Group to deploy their Pegasus spyware. It enables the "zero-click" exploit that is prevalent in iOS 13 and below, but also compromises recent safeguards set by Apple's "BlastDoor" in iOS 14 and later. In September 2021, Apple released new versions of its operating systems for multiple device families containing a fix for the vulnerability.

The 2022 Greek surveillance scandal, sometimes called Predatorgate or Greek Watergate, refers to the prolonged and en masse monitoring of individuals prominent in the Greek political scene, along with multiple public persons, including the president of the social democratic party, PASOK, Nikos Androulakis, the journalists Thanassis Koukakis and Stavros Michaloudis, as well as members of the government and close affiliates of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, among others, via the Greek National Intelligence Service (EYP) or the Predator spyware.

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