Group of bipartisan lawmakers ask US government to ban several hack-for-hire firms
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is urging the Commerce Department to sanction three Indian firms accused of operating as 'hack-for-hire' services. The lawmakers claim these companies target Americans and manipulate legal proceedings, prompting calls for their inclusion on the U.S. entity list.
Why it matters
This highlights the growing geopolitical concern over mercenary cyber-espionage firms and the use of economic sanctions to curb private-sector digital threats.
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has asked the U.S. government to ban several hack-for-hire firms — companies that carry out cyberattacks on behalf of paying clients. The lawmakers accuse the firms of targeting Americans and abusing foreign courts to silence U.S. reporting on their activities.
Democratic senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Republican congressman Pat Harrigan, on Wednesday sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, urging him to add three Indian companies to the department’s economic sanctions “ entity list .”
The list effectively bars U.S. businesses from transacting with a named entity, with the aim of restricting the companies from accessing critical technology needed to function, including software licenses and cloud infrastructure.
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