Governments call for spyware regulations in UN Security Council meeting

Tuesday, The UN Security Council held a meeting To discuss the dangers of commercial spyware, which identified this type of software for the first time — Also known as government or mercenary spyware — discussed in the Security Council.

The aim of the meeting, According to the US Mission to the United Nationswas to “address the implications of the proliferation and misuse of commercial spyware for the maintenance of international peace and security”. The meeting was called by the United States and 15 other countries.

Although the meeting was mostly informal and did not end with any concrete resolutions, most of the countries involved, including France, South Korea and the UK, agreed that governments should take action to control the spread and misuse of commercial spyware. On the other hand, Russia and China dismissed the concern.

John Scott-Relton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, a human rights organization that has investigated spyware abuse since 2012, testified that he sounded the alarm about the proliferation of spyware created by “a secretive global ecosystem of developers, brokers.” Intermediaries and boutique firms, which “threaten international peace and security as well as human rights.”

Scott-Relton called Europe a “hotbed of spyware abuse” and a breeding ground for spyware companies. Citing a recent TechCrunch investigation that showed Barcelona has become a hub for spyware companies In the last few years

Representatives from Poland and Greece, countries that have their own spyware scams involving software NSO Group And Intellexa respectively, also intervene.

Representative of Poland Local laws direct efforts to have “more control, including by the judiciary, over the relevant operational activities of the security and intelligence services”, and it recognizes that spyware can be used in a legal way. “We are not saying that the use of spyware is never justified or even necessary,” said Poland’s representative

and Greek representatives He pointed to the country’s 2022 bill to ban the sale of spyware.

On the other hand, Russia has accused the United States. Russian representative, ref Historic revelations of NSA spying By US whistleblower Edward Snowden, “It is the United States in particular that has created and continues to perfect a veritable system of global surveillance and illegal interference in the private lives of its own citizens and citizens of other countries.”

China’s representative himself criticized the meeting, saying that “discussing so-called commercial spyware and the maintenance of international peace and security have been put before the horse when compared to more harmful proliferation activities by governments.”

“Since the Stuxnet incident, the proliferation of advanced national cyber weapons has created a series of major Internet risks, far more harmful than commercial spyware,” China’s representative said, referring to the Stuxnet malware that was created. As part of the US-Israeli campaign to sabotage Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

During the Biden administration, the US government has taken several steps against commercial spyware, including Endorsing Israeli spyware makers NSO Group and CandiruAlso based in Greece Intellexa and its founder Tal Dilian; and imposed Travel ban against individuals involved in the spyware industry.
last year, People who work or used to work in the spyware industry told TechCrunch expressed concern that sanctions and other punitive measures would affect them personally.