At least 50 US government employees have been exposed to spyware, prompting new rules
WASHINGTON: At least 50 US government employees in 10 countries were targeted by commercial hacking tools, commonly known as spyware. According to a senior administration official, he highlighted the growing threat posed by cybercriminals and prompted the White House to introduce countermeasures. of espionage.
US President Joseph Biden will sign an executive order on Monday aimed at curbing the malicious use of digital espionage tools against US personnel and civil society around the world.
While it has not previously been reported that so many US government employees have been targeted in this way, Reuters reported in 2021 that the Apple Inc. iPhones of at least nine US State Department employees were targeted by an unknown attacker using advanced spyware developed by an Israeli company.
At the time, it represented the largest known hacking of US officials using such tools.
An administration official cited an earlier Reuters report as the reason for the broader internal government review.
The new executive order aims to pressure the secretive industry by imposing new restrictions on purchasing decisions by the U.S. government’s defense, law enforcement and intelligence agencies, a senior administration official said.
“We have clearly identified the spread and abuse of spyware as a threat to national security,” the official said, citing a broad US government review that began in 2021. “The threat of abuse around the world also affects key foreign policy interests. .”
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