Predator Files: investigation into European spyware

On October 9, 2023, the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), a collective of nine European media outlets, published an investigation into the European spyware program, Predator. Amnesty International’s Security Lab produced an additional technical report. European legislation allows State use of such software but only for counterterrorism or against organized crime.

Yet, according to the EIC, some States have also used Predator to spy on political opposition, including civil society actors, journalists, activists, academics… Amnesty International’s Security Lab even identified attacks against leading political figures, without being able to gauge their success.

Designed by the Hungarian-Macedonian company Cytrox, Predator was sold by Intellexa, a conglomerate of surveillance firms led by a former Mossad agent. Even though Intellexa describes itself as an “EU-based and regulated company,” it recently made the United States’ blacklist, along with Cytrox. The linchpin in Predator’s distribution seems to have been French company Nexa (formerly Amesys), a founding member of Intellexa.

The firm is believed to have sold Predator to three European nations (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), four Persian Gulf countries (the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Oman and Qatar), three Asian States (Pakistan, Singapore, Vietnam) and two African countries (Congo and Kenya). The Security Lab also has evidence of Predator operating in Angola, Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Mongolia and Sudan. The EIC estimates at least 25 countries are currently using the spyware.

“The ‘Predator Files’ investigation proves what we have long feared: highly invasive surveillance tech being marketed at an almost industrial scale, and free to operate in the shadows with no monitoring or real accountability,” commented Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.