Get you up to speed: Shady spyware firm linked to hacking journalists held talks with UK officials | News UK
British officials engaged in discussions with Intellexa, a spyware company known for its Predator software, which has targeted journalists and was sanctioned by the US. The talks reportedly took place in the UK, but specifics regarding the department involved have not been disclosed.
British officials engaged in discussions with Intellexa, the company behind the Predator spyware, during multiple trips to the UK, as revealed during a recent court trial. In February, an Athens court convicted four executives from Intellexa for violating privacy laws, with an appeals hearing scheduled for December 11.
British officials have held talks with Intellexa representatives, whose spyware was implicated in targeting journalists and has been sanctioned by the US. Following these revelations, campaigners expressed concern over potential use of the technology by the UK government, urging transparency and warning that spyware like Predator should be banned.
What remains unclear — It is not specified which UK department or agency met with the Intellexa sales engineer during his visits.
Spyware firm Intellexa linked to journalist hacking in talks with UK officials
British officials held talks with a spyware company whose software was used to target journalists and was later sanctioned by the US, WTX can reveal.
Officials met salesmen from Intellexa, whose surveillance application Predator was used to spy on at least 87 people in Greece and was sold to authoritarian regimes across the world.
Four business executives linked to the spyware developer were found guilty by an Athens court in February of violating the confidentiality of telephone communications and illegally accessing personal data and conversations.
During the trial, an Intellexa employee testified that he travelled to the UK to try sell one of their products, according to court documents obtained by WTX.
Sales engineer Panagiotis Koutsios revealed that he pitched to officials details of Intellexa’s ‘Big Data Analytics’ software, which multiple sources said was a ‘component’ of Predator.
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A political scandal erupted in Greece in 2022 when it emerged that the phone of journalist Thanasis Koukakis had been infected with Predator spyware after pressing on a scam link.
A top opposition politician Nikos Androulakis had also been targeted with the same link, and it was discovered that both men also had their phones wiretapped by Greece’s EYP National Intelligence Service.
The crisis – dubbed the ‘Greek Watergate’ – led to the resignation of the EYP chief and a close aide of the Prime Minister, although the government insisted that no law enforcement agency had ever used Predator.
The sophisticated spyware can infiltrate mobile phones, access messages and photos, and extract data from a device.
Intellexa, an Athens-based Israeli company which developed and distributed Predator, was sanctioned by the US in March 2024 for being a ‘security risk’ after ‘targeting US officials, journalists and policy experts’.
In February this year, a court in Athens found Intellexa’s founder Tal Dilian, his partner Sara Hamou, and two former Greek executives of the company, guilty of spyware-related offences.
WTX has uncovered that sales trips to the United Kingdom were discussed multiple times during the trial.
Koutsios, a sales engineer at Intellexa from April 2021 to May 2022, testified that he made at least one journey to the United Kingdom to present the firm’s software, alongside a company salesperson called Ami Weiner.
Koutsios said he ‘only’ ever met ‘with government officials’ to make sales presentations, and described holding talks in ‘state-owned’ buildings on his trips.
He refused to reveal which UK department or agency he met with and the government declined to comment. He also testified he did not know if the product was eventually sold.
Koutsios told the court his job was to present on Intellexa’s ‘Big Data Analytics’ software, which changed names at least three times during his stint at the company.
Koutsios acknowledged that this could include ‘personal data’ and that Predator was a possible method for collecting the data to be analysed.
He told lawyers: ‘From the moment we spoke only with governmental organisations, we understood that what we were showing … was something sensitive.’
The sales engineer insisted, however, that he had no knowledge about Predator or other illegal surveillance while he was at Intellexa and that was not part of his sales presentations.
But Zacharias Kesses, a lawyer for a victims of the Predator affair, told WTX that there is ‘no indication’ in the case file ‘that Big Data Analytics was ever sold as a standalone product’.
He added: ‘The evidence points to it being offered as an additional service, closely tied to and dependent upon the Predator platform.’
WTX has also seen a press release from Intellexa, dating back to 2019, which states that the company ‘integrates several product lines into a complete solution’, including ‘infection and data extraction systems’ and ‘data fusion and analytics systems’ among them.
Amnesty International has reported that the Predator system was identified in two countries Koutsios admitted visiting – Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
Koutsios later admitted in court that a year after leaving Intellexa, he continued selling ‘the same software’ through remote work company Remote Greece from May 2023 to March 2024, after the Predator scandal broke out.
Greek outlet To Vima reported that Remote was allegedly used as a channel to continue employing former Intellexa employees at the time the firm was sanctioned, with Koutsios testifying that the ‘accounting department was the same’ when he was there.
WTX has also seen evidence that allegedly documents a work trip made by another Intellexa employee to the UK.
An expense report for plane and taxi fares – filed under the purpose ‘UK POC’ – was submitted by Vasileios Sevastos in May 2022.
Concerns amongst campiagners
The revelation that Intellexa and UK officials held meeting has sparked concern from campaigners.
Big Brother Watch’s Head of Advocacy Jack Coulson said: ‘If the UK government has been considering using Intellexa technology, we should all be worried.
‘Democracies need to stand up against spyware agencies and the government should be open with the public if it has been using this software and why.’
Amnesty International, which has conducted numerous investigations into Intellexa, claimed the company ‘is linked with a litany of human rights abuses stretching over many years’.
Rebecca White, a researcher in their Security Lab, said: ‘If an Intellexa representative were to have met with UK government officials to try to sell their wares… this should of course raise concerns.’
She added: ‘The surveillance industry thrives on an absence of transparency and we need governments to be proactive in disclosing information.’
White also said that ‘highly invasive spyware’ such as Predator ‘cannot be human rights compliant and should therefore be banned.’
This sentiment was supported by Lord David Alton, Chair of Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights.
He told WTX: ‘Software targeting the phones of journalists, politicians, pro-democracy and human rights activists, forms part of a systemic and malign attempt to harvest personal data, to use Big Brother surveillance, and to subvert our democracies.
‘The US has been right to impose sanctions on those who are behind the Predator software. The UK should carefully examine the evidence and consider doing the same.’
However cyber security expert Professor Alan Woodward said he would be ‘surprised’ if Intellexa was trying to sell Predator to the UK, who he said would be ‘highly likely to stay well clear’ of commercial spyware firms.
He added that it is ‘plausible’ officials were interested in Intellexa’s big data analytics tools.
Prof Woodward explained: ‘The same tools can sometimes be used in unexpected government departments if they have the capability to help look for patterns that can spot anything from inefficiency to fraud.’
He continued: ‘I can imagine the government would be cautious about using them as a supplier if they are involved in other activities such as supplying spyware.’
The UK is leading international efforts to stop powerful hacking tools from spreading or being misused.
Britain and France launched the Pall Mall Process in February 2024, bringing together governments, companies and civil society to tackle commercial cyber intrusion tools and services.
What has Intellexa said?
A statement from Intellexa founder Tal Dilian, provided by his lawyer, said: ‘These allegations are neither new nor supported by any credible evidence.
‘For years, the same recycled narratives have been repeated through headlines, activist reports, and media speculation, yet no evidence has ever been presented linking me to any unlawful act.
‘Developing and providing intelligence technologies to law enforcement agencies worldwide is a must, and contribute to the well-being of each one of your readers.’
Sara Hamou and the other two defendants in the Intellexa case have also consistently denied all charges and wrongdoing, which Hamou reiterated to WTX in a statement.
Sanctions against Sara Hamou were also dropped by the US in 2025.
All four defendants are due to appear before an appeals court in Athens on December 11.
Remote said: ‘Remote takes its compliance obligations extremely seriously and has a thorough sanctions screening programme both at onboarding and throughout the employment relationship. We do not employ individuals in contravention of sanctions compliance or regulatory requirements. We will not be commenting further on confidential employment matters.’
The UK government and Panagiotis Koutsios declined to comment.
WTX approached the Greek government, Ami Weiner and Vasileios Sevastos for comment.