US lawmakers ask to add three Indian companies to Entity List
A group of US lawmakers from the Democratic and Republican parties has asked the US Department of Commerce to add three Indian companies to the Entity List. They are BellTroX, CyberRoot, and Sunkissed Organic Farms, which previously operated under the name Appin. TechCrunch reports.
Appeal to the US Department of Commerce
The letter to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was sent by Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Sheldon Whitehouse, as well as Republican House member Pat Harrigan. In the letter, the lawmakers state that the companies had carried out cyberattacks and espionage operations against Americans, business owners, and their lawyers for more than a decade in order to influence the course of legal proceedings.
According to the letter’s authors, the companies offering hack-for-hire services stole the data of thousands of Americans. The lawmakers also accused them of an “aggressive censorship campaign” aimed at concealing information about their alleged activities from the public.
Placement on the Entity List effectively prohibits US companies from conducting transactions with the listed entities. This is intended to restrict such companies’ access to critical technologies, including software licenses and cloud infrastructure. It is currently unknown whether the US Department of Commerce will make such a decision.
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Claims of pressure on media
In the letter, the lawmakers also stated that these companies acted on behalf of the Qatari government and that their targets included a former high-ranking Republican lawmaker. In previous reports, Appin was linked to a cyberattack campaign against FIFA officials that, according to those publications, was conducted to protect Qatar’s plans to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Appin previously obtained a global injunction in an Indian court requiring Reuters to remove an article about it while the news agency appealed the ruling. The injunction was later lifted and the publication was restored. The Electronic Frontier Foundation also defended Techdirt and the MuckRock Foundation against legal threats related to publications about Appin’s alleged involvement in hack-for-hire operations.
A representative of the Qatari government in Washington did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. CyberRoot representatives also did not respond before publication, journalists were unable to reach BellTroX, and Sunkissed Organic Farms director Anuj Khare did not reply to an email.
