Globe-Trotting Intellexa Has Peddled Spyware to the World's Most Repressive Regimes
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A flight to Khartoum in Sudan opened a rare window on a secretive and lucrative business, linking the repressive Sudanese militia to a cabal of powerbrokers in Greece, a corporate network spanning Cyprus, the British Virgin Islands, and Ireland, and above all to a crisis spreading across the EU, namely the widespread availability of spyware that can track and hack mobile phones worldwide, threatening democratic institutions and human rights defenders.
The cargo on the flight was high-end surveillance technology made in the European Union by spyware purveyor Intellexa, best known for its Predator spyware, with the potential to tip the balance of power in Sudan thanks to its capacity to turn smartphones into audio-visual informants on their owners. The plane was connected to Intellexa’s founder Tal Dilian, a former Israeli intelligence operative, who has bought up an array of sophisticated surveillance technology and established an EU foothold in Greece and Cyprus.
As part of a wide-rangi…
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