The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has issued an executive order that prohibits the use of spyware in all government departments and agencies, like the controversial one Pegasusthe White House announced on Monday.

Spyware, too spyware are advanced surveillance tools that allow remote access to electronic devices, especially smartphones, without the knowledge of their users.

The White House said commercial spyware represents a clear intelligence threat to the United States and has been found on the phones of 50 US officials abroad.

Besides, he pointed it out several foreign governments have used it “to facilitate repression and permit abuses against human rights”.

“The misuse of these powerful surveillance tools has not been limited to authoritarian regimes,” the US government warned in a statement.

“Democratic governments have also faced revelations that actors have used commercial spyware within their systems that target their citizens without proper legal authorization, safeguards and oversight,” it added.

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Biden’s executive order is not a complete ban on commercial spyware, but it applies to any program deemed to pose a risk to the security of the United States, or that other governments use for political abuse.

Nor did it restrict spyware developed by the US government itself.as the INC or the National Security Agency, the main electronic intelligence agency.

“Cornerstone”

According to a senior Biden administration official, the most threatening software can remotely extract all data from specific devices. Last year, the government warned it was planning strict restrictions on privately developed surveillance software after reports of its use for political purposes in several countries around the world.

In its Monday announcement, the White House gave no specific names. But the U.S. government has already taken steps to prevent the use of various programs and companies deemed threatening.

In November, the Commerce Department blacklisted four spyware developers: Israel’s NRO Group and Candiru, Russia’s Positive Technologies, and Singapore’s Computer Security Initiative Consultancy.. Pegasus, made by NRO Group, has been used by governments and entities in Mexico, Poland, Spain, Hungary, Bahrain, India and elsewhere.

“There was an attempt by commercial spyware vendors, as in other countries, to try and break into the United States federal government and market and sell their tools within the federal government,” the senior official told reporters.

“So we purposely announced publicly that we were going to ban it,” he added.

The ban was announced a day before Biden will host his second Democracy Summit, a three-day event to which leaders from 121 countries were invited. The White House called the ban on commercial spyware a “cornerstone” initiative for the top.