Members of both parties in the U.S. Congress are pushing for the government to take tougher measures against the "hacker outsourcing" industry. Lawmakers have written to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, requesting that three Indian companies be added to the Commerce Department's entity list to restrict their continued access to key technical resources such as U.S. software licenses and cloud services.
Three Indian companies were specifically named.
The co-signing legislators include Democratic senators Ron Wyden and Sheldon Whitehouse, as well as Republican Representative Pat Harrigan. The three companies named in the letter are Appin, BellTroX, and CyberRoot.
Members of parliament stated that such companies, hired to carry out cyberattacks, have stolen data from thousands of Americans, targeting corporate executives, members of parliament, and military officials. These attacks are often used in litigation tactics or in an attempt to influence the outcome of cases.
Entity list restricts access to technology
Once listed on the entity list, U.S. companies are generally not allowed to conduct transactions with the relevant companies. Such restrictions directly affect the target companies' ability to obtain software licenses, cloud infrastructure, and other critical technical services.
Members of Congress also accused these companies of using overseas courts to suppress media coverage, thereby weakening the American public's right to know about cyber threats. The letter stated that such practices allow foreign entities to exploit foreign judicial systems to limit American society's understanding of cyberattack activities targeting their own country.
Media investigations exert pressure
The backdrop for this pressure is the continuous tracking of the "hacker outsourcing" industry by multiple media outlets and research institutions in recent years. Relevant surveys have shown that some companies accept paid commissions to hack into email accounts and devices in order to gain an advantage in litigation, business competition, or political activities.
Among them, Appin once obtained a global order from a Indian court requiring Reuters to remove reports related to its business. Subsequently, this order was lifted, and the relevant reports were reinstated online. The Electronic Frontier Foundation had also previously assisted Techdirt and MuckRock Foundation in dealing with legal threats surrounding Appin.
In the letter, the member also stated that these companies had taken action "at the request of the Qatar government," with targets including a former senior Republican member of Congress. Earlier reports have also linked Appin to cyberattacks against FIFA officials, suggesting that the related activities were related to Qatar's interests in bidding for and hosting the 2022 World Cup.
Additional information:As of the time of this report, the U.S. Department of Commerce has not indicated whether it will accept this request, and representatives from Qatar and the companies named in the report have also not responded to media requests for comments.
