US lawmakers call on American government to blacklist three Indian hack-for-hire firms

WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Three U.S. lawmakers have called on the American government to blacklist a set of Indian IT firms over what they describe as “more than fifteen years ​of targeted espionage against U.S. citizens, businesses, and the lawyers ‌representing them.”

In a letter issued Wednesday, Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Sheldon Whitehouse, along with Republican Representative Pat Harrigan, asked the Commerce Department to add BellTroX, CyberRoot, and Sunkissed Organic Farms Pvt. Ltd. (formerly known as “Appin Technology Pvt. Ltd.”) and ‌its ​subsidiaries, to the Commerce Department’s Entity List. ⁠Such a designation would ⁠cut them off from U.S. software, cloud infrastructure, and cybersecurity tools.

Sunkissed representatives, CyberRoot and the Commerce Department did not respond to requests for comment. BellTroX could not be reached for comment.

All three ​companies have been described in media coverage and in reports published by major tech firms as being fronts for hack-for-hire activities.

In ⁠2022, Reuters named CyberRoot and BellTroX as ⁠key players in the cybermercenary industry, saying they ​were frequently tapped by Western lawyers and private investigators to spy on ​one another during legal and business disputes. A 2023 Reuters ‌report identified Appin as a pioneer in the field, saying the company grew from an educational startup to a hack-for-hire powerhouse that stole secrets from executives, politicians, military officials and wealthy elites around ⁠the globe.

Executives at all three companies have denied wrongdoing.

Other publications, including The New Yorker and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, have also identified the ⁠firms as hackers-for-hire, as ‌have Facebook owner Meta Platforms and Alphabet-owned Google, ⁠both of which have published three reports between ​them ‌about hacking activity tied to the firms.

Reuters is ​engaged in litigation ⁠in India with a group calling itself the Association of Appin Training Centers, which says it represents the interests of Appin alumni and accuses Reuters of damaging the reputations of training centers and their students, an allegation Reuters disputes. The litigation is ongoing.

(Reporting by Chris Sanders; editing ​by Edward Tobin)