Vendor

Citizen Lab

2 mentions in 7 days · 4 in 30 days · 4 total · first seen Aug 20, 2026 · last 5d ago

Timeline4 articles

Group of Bipartisan Lawmakers Ask US Government to Ban Several Hack-for-Hire Firms

Bipartisan US lawmakers urged Commerce Secretary Lutnick to sanction three Indian hack-for-hire firms, including BellTroX, over espionage targeting US citizens.

On September 9, 2026, a bipartisan group of US lawmakers sent a letter urging Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to add three Indian companies, including BellTroX InfoTech Services, to the economic sanctions list. The firms are accused of targeted espionage against US citizens, businesses, and their lawyers, as well as lawfare to censor investigative reporting by major American media. The request builds on Citizen Lab's 2020 discovery of the Dark Basin hack-for-hire operation, which targeted US nonprofits involved in #ExxonKnew and net neutrality advocacy and was linked to BellTroX and related entities.

Citizen LabSep 10, 17:19 UTC · 5d agoPolicy & legal 3 sources1

Lawmakers call on Treasury to sanction hackers-for-hire

Bipartisan US lawmakers asked Treasury to sanction three India-based hack-for-hire firms accused of long-running espionage against Americans.

Sens. Ron Wyden and Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. Pat Harrigan urged Treasury to add Sunkissed Organic Farms (formerly Appin), BellTroX, and CyberRoot to the Entity List. The letter says the mercenary groups conducted targeted espionage against US citizens, businesses, and lawyers for over fifteen years, allegedly including work for Qatar's government such as targeting opponents of Qatar's World Cup bid and Kristi Rogers, wife of Senate candidate Mike Rogers. Adding the firms to the Entity List would restrict their access to American software, cybersecurity tools, and cloud infrastructure. The lawmakers also accuse the groups of lawfare campaigns to censor investigative reporting on their hacking activities.

CyberScoopupdated Sep 10, 17:19 UTC · 5d agofirst Sep 9, 18:43 UTC · 6d agoThreat actor in the wild 3 sources

U.K. Supreme Court Opens Door for Spyware Victims to Sue Foreign States

UK Supreme Court ruled Bahrain not immune from spyware litigation, letting two dissidents pursue claims over FinSpy hacking; case returns to the High Court.

The UK Supreme Court ruled in The Kingdom of Bahrain v. Shehabi that Bahrain is not immune from litigation over its alleged use of FinSpy spyware against two Bahraini dissidents living in the UK. Citizen Lab researchers Siena Anstis, Natalia Krapiva, and Kate Pundyk, writing in Lawfare, called the decision a milestone for accountability in transnational repression. The case now returns to the UK High Court, where attribution, causation, and injury must be proven.

Citizen LabSep 2, 14:14 UTC · 13d agoPolicy & legal in the wild

‘Unprecedented’ Number of Apple Users Received Recent Spyware Alert

Apple users in 110 countries received an unprecedented wave of spyware threat notifications, per Citizen Lab analysis.

Apple customers in 110 countries recently received threat notifications alerting them to suspected spyware attacks targeting their devices. Citizen Lab describes the number of alerts as unprecedented. Such Apple threat notifications typically indicate mercenary spyware attacks against specifically targeted individuals.

Citizen LabAug 20, 17:52 UTC · 26d agoThreat actor in the wild

Appears with

organization Citizen Lab 3 threat actor BellTroX 1 threat actor BellTroX InfoTech Services 1 threat actor CyberRoot 1 threat actor Dark Basin 1 threat actor Kingdom of Bahrain 1 threat actor Sunkissed Organic Farms 1 organization Apple 1 organization BellTroX InfoTech Services 1 organization CyberScoop 1 organization Reuters 1 organization TechCrunch 1 organization University of Toronto 1 organization US Congress 1 organization US Department of Commerce 1 organization US Department of Justice 1

Entities are extracted by the model from each article. Watching an entity keeps it in this browser only (no account); the watchlist page and dashboard alerts use it.