Three US law-makers have urged the Trump administration to blacklist three India-based companies over allegations that they have been involved in hack-for-hire operations and a more than 15-year campaign of targeted espionage against US citizens, businesses and lawyers,
says a report from Reuters.
Democratic senators Ron Wyden and Sheldon Whitehouse, along with Republican representative Pat Harrigan, have asked the US department of commerce to add BellTroX, CyberRoot and Sunkissed Organic Farms Pvt Ltd — formerly known as Appin Technology Pvt Ltd — and their subsidiaries to the department's entity list, the report says.
The move, if approved, would restrict the companies' access to US-origin software, cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity tools.
According to the news agency, the law-makers, in a letter to commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, alleged that India-based cyber-mercenary groups had spent more than 15 years carrying out targeted attacks against Americans and US businesses.
“Several India-based cyber-mercenary groups have spent more than 15 years conducting targeted espionage against US citizens, businesses and the lawyers representing them,” the law-makers said in the letter.
The allegations put three Indian companies at the centre of renewed scrutiny in Washington over the global hack-for-hire industry, in which private entities or individuals allegedly engage cyber operators to obtain information through hacking and other intrusive techniques.
BellTroX, CyberRoot and the former Appin Technology have previously been identified in investigations by media organisations and technology companies as being linked to hacking-for-hire activity.
In a
separate 2023 investigation, Reuters identified Appin as an early player in the hack-for-hire industry. According to the
Reuters investigation, the company evolved from an educational venture into an operation targeting executives, politicians, military officials, and wealthy individuals worldwide.
Executives at all three companies have denied wrongdoing, Reuters said.
The latest allegations go beyond individual hacking incidents. The law-makers said investigations by Reuters and The Citizen Lab had uncovered widespread hacking campaigns targeting private equity firms, pharmaceutical companies and more than 1,000 lawyers working at major US law firms.
They also alleged that there was evidence linking the groups to operations carried out at the behest of the Qatari government, including the alleged targeting of individuals opposed to Qatar's bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup and members of the family of a former Republican chairman of the house permanent select committee on intelligence, the report says.
According to Reuters, the law-makers also accused the companies and their associates of using foreign courts to try to suppress reporting about their alleged hacking activities.
“Compounding this security threat, these cyber mercenaries and their associates have engaged in an aggressive campaign of global lawfare to censor investigative reporting by prominent American media organisations,” they said.
The law-makers alleged that companies linked to the hacking operations had pursued legal action against US technology and media organisations, including Google, Meta, Microsoft and The New Yorker, in an effort to suppress criticism and prevent details of their alleged activities from becoming public.
They said such efforts had, at one stage, resulted in a global takedown of an investigation, the report says.
The law-makers argued that using foreign courts to restrict reporting on cyber threats could prevent Americans from accessing information about attacks directed at them.
“This coordinated effort effectively allows foreign entities to use foreign courts to keep the American public in the dark about cyber threats to their own country and undermines the fundamental constitutional rights of US citizens,” they wrote.
The allegations against the three companies are not limited to media investigations, Reuters says. "Other publications, including The New Yorker, opens new tab and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, opens new tab, have also identified the firms as hackers-for-hire, as have Facebook owner Meta Platforms and Alphabet-owned Google, both of which have published three reports between them about hacking activity tied to the firms."
Reuters' reporting has also examined the broader growth of the cybermercenary industry, in which commercial hacking services can be used to target individuals and organisations involved in business, political or legal disputes.
The US law-makers' request now places the companies before the commerce department's bureau of industry and security, which must determine whether they meet the criteria for inclusion on the entity list.
Placement on the entity list is a significant US trade restriction. Companies added to the list can face licensing requirements for exports, re-exports or transfers of US-controlled items, potentially making it considerably harder for them to obtain American technology.
In this case, the law-makers specifically called for restrictions that would cut the companies off from US software, cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity tools.
The companies have not publicly accepted the allegations outlined by the law-makers. Sunkissed Organic Farms' representatives, CyberRoot and the US department of commerce did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment, while BellTroX could not be reached, the report says.
The development also comes against the backdrop of continuing legal disputes surrounding reporting on the alleged hacking operations.
Reuters said it is engaged in ongoing litigation in India with a group calling itself the Association of Appin Training Centers, which says it represents the interests of Appin alumni. The group has accused Reuters of damaging the reputations of training centres and their students, allegations that the news agency disputes. The litigation remains ongoing.
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