U.S.-led efforts to combat commercial spyware misuse have gained the support of Ireland, Germany, Finland, Poland, Japan, and South Korea in addition to the 10 countries who initially joined the international anti-spyware agreement, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.
Such an agreement details the signatories' commitment to creating regulations on spyware and curbing exports of technology that would likely be exploited for illicit cyber activity, as well as establishing spyware information sharing.
Ireland has been a notable addition to the alliance being the headquarters of U.S.-sanctioned spyware firms Intellexa Limited and Thalestris Limited, while the inclusion of Japan and South Korea would help expand the partnership in Asia, said a senior Biden administration official. "As authoritarian and repressive regimes deploy technologies to undermine democracy and human rights, we need to ensure that technology sustains and supports democratic values and norms," said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the third Summit for Democracy in South Korea, where the additional countries pledging to counter spyware were revealed.
