US announces visa ban on those linked to commercial spyware

The U.S. announced new measures to curb misuse of commercial spyware: the State Department will impose visa restrictions on individuals involved, the Biden Administration issued an Executive Order barring U.S. government use of risky mercenary surveillance tools, and the Commerce Department’s BIS added Intellexa and Cytrox entities to the Entity List for facilitating repression and surveillance; the report also cites prior sanctions against NSO Group, Candiru, Positive Technologies, and CSIS, alongside research linking Predator spyware to zero-day exploits and campaigns targeting politicians, journalists, and other high-risk individuals.