At least 50 U.S. government staffers stationed in 10 countries were targeted with commercial hacking tools, commonly known as spyware, a senior administration official said, highlighting the growing threat by offensive cyber vendors and prompting the White House to introduce rules to hinder the spying.
iPhones of at least nine U.S. State Department employees were targeted by an unknown assailant using sophisticated spyware developed by an Israeli company.The senior administration official cited Reuters' prior reporting as a reason for the broader internal government review.
By more heavily regulating which organizations can do business with the U.S. government, the idea is that it will shift how the shadowy market operates and limit sales to certain actors, the official said. Makers of such hacking tools could be barred from selling to U.S. agencies if they are found to be doing business with foreign governments that have a poor human rights track record, based on analysis by the U.S. State Department and others.
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