US: President Biden bans government use of commercial spyware | World news

Washington: President Joe Biden has banned all US federal agencies and departments from using any commercial spyware that poses a threat to US national security interests or/and has been used by foreign governments to participate in exploits human rights.

The decision, introduced by executive order, comes close to the Forum for Democracy, the flagship event of President Biden that started this week, and 18 months after revelations about the extensive use of Pegasus software by democratic governments and authoritarian governments. also highlights the threats posed by commercial spyware.

Biden’s order applies to all federal agencies, including law enforcement, security and intelligence departments, and applies to spyware tools provided by domestic and international commercial companies. To be sure, the ban does not extend to all commercial spyware – but only to spyware that has been found to target US interests and has been illegally deployed for human rights abuses elsewhere. But it is important because for the first time, it sets strict guidelines on what US government agencies cannot collect and use.

Calling it an “initiative” executive order, a senior government official explained the reason for the move.

Defining commercial spyware as “sophisticated and invasive cyber surveillance tools sold by vendors to remotely access electronic devices, extract their content, and manipulate their components, all without the knowledge or consent of device users”, the official said that since the late summer of 2021, the National Security Council has been working on evaluating the threat posed by this type of spyware. Two models became known.

For one, the spyware is a threat to the U.S. defense and national security interests. At least 50 applications used by US government officials, in ten countries, on different computers, have been targeted by commercial spyware. The order said, “Untrusted commercial vendors and tools can present significant risks to the security and integrity of US government information and information systems.”

In the absence of clear and balanced guidance on whether federal agencies can use spyware, commercial spyware vendors are still looking to make inroads into the US system.

Second, the US notes that a growing number of foreign governments have used this technology to “facilitate repression and facilitate human rights abuses, including to intimidate political opponents and suppress dissent, suppress freedom of expression, and monitor activists and journalists”. The authority noted that even democratic governments have had conflicting revelations that actors within their systems have used spyware to “target their citizens without proper legal authority, safeguards and supervision”.

It is against this background that the administration established a set of goals for commercial spyware use – ensuring that it is consistent with US national security and foreign policy needs “supporting and advancing democratic processes and the industry and respect for human rights”; ensure that the US does not contribute, directly or indirectly, to the spread or exploitation of commercial spyware; and help protect US government personnel and information systems. The aforementioned senior management official suggested that the management also hopes that the order will help reform the unregulated industry and provide the foundations for international cooperation.

The order itself established “counterintelligence, security and improper use” factors which would lead to the exclusion of spyware from US use. This includes, among other situations, when a foreign actor uses commercial spyware against “activists, opponents, or other actors to intimidate; to suppress opposition or political opposition: to otherwise limit the freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly or association; or to facilitate other forms of human rights abuses or restriction of civil liberties”.

While the order itself does not have a list of spyware tools or companies that will be removed from now on, senior government officials have said that it will allow information sharing procedures across companies in the government; the heads of the relevant institutions will make the decision; the bar for making this decision on what spyware can allow and what is prohibited will be “very high”; and this will happen on a case by case basis.