Israel has imposed restrictions on the sales of cyber technologies to foreign countries, in a move described by industry insiders as a "major blow."
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The order comes amid an ongoing scandal involving Israel's NSO Group, whose Pegasus software has been found to be used around the world to break into the phones of human rights activists, journalists, and even members of the Catholic clergy.
The company troubles deepened earlier this month when the Biden administration announced it was blacklisting it, along with another Israeli cybersecurity firm called Candiru. Both were added to the "entity list," which limits their access to US components and technology by requiring government permission for exports.
Financial daily Calcalist said Thursday that the Defense Ministry has "dramatically scaled back" the number of countries with which Israeli cyber companies can do business, cutting the list from 102 countries to just 37.
The list of countries to which some cyber exports have been banned includes Morocco, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico, to name a few.
According to the report, the Defense Ministry now allows cyber technologies exports to Austria, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Estonia, Bulgaria, Belgium, UK, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Greece, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Malta, Norway, Slovenia, Slovakia, Slovakia Spain, Portugal, Finland, the Czech Republic, France, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United States, and Canada.
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