"How Little We Know About Spyware Makers' Government Ties" 29 April 2026

In a recent report, we looked into NSO’s lobbying efforts and how these provide a stark case study of how spyware firms deploy vast resources to influence government and democratic decision-making in pursuit of their commercial interests. However, NSO is not alone. A number of other commercial spyware companies – including Paragon Solutions, Candiru/Saito Tech and the Intellexa Alliance – have sought to influence government in recent years by hiring lobbying, law and PR firms and other external consultants.

These consultants have attempted to reverse trade restrictions, lift visa bans, advise on US and European market strategies, and assist in formulating spyware companies’ human rights policies. In this second ‘spyware lobbying’ installment, we take a closer look at this activity...This is important, as influencing democratic decision-making through lobbyists and consultants is prohibitively expensive, putting it out of reach for ordinary citizens and leaving it largely to powerful actors – such as the commercial spyware industry – whose interests often diverge from the public and have been shown to harm human rights and national security...

...Paragon used external consultants to remain in Washington’s ‘good graces’

Paragon Solutions, which signed a $2 million deal with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2024 – reactivated in 2025 for use in drug trafficking cases – is one of several spyware vendors that have engaged in government lobbying.

Between 2023 and 2025, Paragon retained Washington, DC–based consultancy Holland & Knight. According to lobbying disclosure filings, this involved a minimum total lobbying spend of $380,000 across 2023, 2024 and 2025...

...Candiru hired lobbyists to lift US trade restrictions

Israeli spyware firm Candiru, whose technology has been used to target civil society globally and was placed alongside NSO Group under trade restrictions by the Biden administration in 2021, has also been lobbying the government.

Candiru, which has been renamed to Saito Tech, enlisted between 2021 and 2024 the services of Washington law firm Arent Fox to be “removed from BIS Entity List and to obtain items subject to US export controls,” according to lobbying disclosure filings (LD-1). The firm also enlisted the services of lobbying firm Bridge Public Affairs between April and September 2022 for the same purposes.

In April 2025, Candiru was acquired by US firm Integrity Partners in a $30 million deal to “bypass US sanctions,” according to Israeli technology media Calcalist. At the time of writing, the spyware vendor remains on the BIS Entity List and the regulatory effects of this deal remain to be seen.

...Intellexa Alliance consultants were active on both sides of the Atlantic

France’s Nexa Technologies, a company that a joint civil society-media 2023 investigation revealed to have sold Predator spyware to repressive regimes including Egypt, Vietnam, and Madagascar, has also retained Washington-based consultants.

Between at least March and October 2022, Nexa retained law firm Hogan Lovells to respond to calls by more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers urging the Biden administration to sanction Nexa and three other cyber-surveillance firms.

Nexa – now rebranded as RB 42 – was part of the Intellexa Alliance, the network of companies involved in developing and selling Predator spyware. The alliance was linked to the wider Intellexa Consortium, which was eventually sanctioned by Washington in March 2024 for using Predator to “covertly surveil US officials, journalists, and policy experts”...In December 2025, as the Trump administration eventually lifted sanctions on three officials linked to Intellexa, Bloomberg reported that some of these Intellexa-linked executives were represented by the law firm Ferrari & Associates, although it did not specify which individuals...

“Nexa has never designed or sold any spyware, and had no capitalistic links to Intellexa. Nexa activities have been sold to another French company and the company is terminated,” RB 42 told Tech Policy Press in a written statement...

...Other spyware firms’ lobbyists

Israeli cyber-intelligence firm Cognyte retained the Vogel Group – whose clients have also included NSO – between March and June 2022 to work on “issues relating to cybersecurity policy,” according to lobbying disclosure filings.

Cognyte was among seven “surveillance-for-hire” firms that Meta removed in December 2021 for using Facebook to target at least 50,000 individuals across 100 countries. The company has also faced significant accusations regarding its involvement in human rights abuses through the sale of surveillance technology to authoritarian regimes, including Myanmar, prior to the coup.

Interionet Systems, a company identified by the Atlantic Council as a developer of “malware for internet routers” and noted for compromising Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as video surveillance cameras, enlisted the services of the lobbying firm Goodland Advisors between January and June 2025...

...Paragon Solutions, [Candiru] Saito Tech, Cognyte, Interionet Systems did not reply to Tech Policy Press’s request for comment before publication...

For more information and to see how Paragon Solutions, Candiru / Saito Tech, NSO Group and Cognyte have responded to related allegations, view their respective company pages on our website.