Israeli Predator-maker Intellexa in Athens raided after sales ban

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
17 Dec 2022 11:19

The Israeli spyware company is the target of investigations into a wiretapping scandal that has rocked Greece in recent months.

Investigations into the “Greek Watergate” phone-tapping scandals continue. (Océanos y dados, Flickr, License)

Local media reported that Greek police raided the Athens office of an Israeli company behind the Predator spyware, as investigations into a wiretapping scandal that has rocked the country in recent months continue.

The offices of Intellexa, the spyware company that supplies Predator, were raided on Tuesday evening, along with the offices of five other companies. The homes of the company executives were also targeted.

The raids were carried out following revelations earlier this year that dozens of prominent politicians, journalists, and businesspeople were being monitored in what has been dubbed the "Greek Watergate", in which Intellexa's cyberespionage tool was detected in the phone of a journalist and attempted to enter opposition leader Nikos Androulakis' phone.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis admitted in August that the buggings were carried out by the country's intelligence services. Mitsotakis attempted to distance himself from the incident, describing it as legal but incorrect.

The operations are part of the government's ongoing efforts to mitigate the effects of the scandal. Greece passed an intelligence bill last week that prohibits the sale of spyware. The bill makes the sale or possession of spyware a crime punishable by at least two years in prison.

The Predator software is a less expensive alternative to the more well-known Pegasus spyware from the NSO Group, also an Israeli company, and it can similarly infiltrate smartphones, steal data, and turn them into listening and recording devices.

However, as the NSO Group is blacklisted for its role in assisting authoritarian regimes, Intellexa, founded by former Israeli military intelligence general Tal Dilian, is gaining popularity, according to a New York Times investigation published last week.

“Predator was found to have been used in another dozen countries since 2021, illustrating the continued demand among governments and the lack of robust international efforts to limit the use of such tools,” according to the Times investigation.

Greece granted Intellexa licenses to export its Predator spyware to Madagascar, and Intellexa pitched its spyware to Ukraine, which declined the offer, according to the investigation.