Countries interested in buying cyber technologies from Israel must commit to only using them to prevent a limited list of terrorism acts and serious crimes, new guidelines issued by Israel's Defence Ministry reveals. Why this matters: Israel is one of the most prominent exporters of cyber tech and surveillance tech in particular. These new guidelines not only place severe restrictions on entities wanting to import such tech from the country but also give a framework to other countries looking to govern their cyber tech exports. This move comes after repeated allegations of misuse of spyware made by Israeli-based NSO Group. Just last week, reports revealed that US State Department employees were hacked by an unknown entity using the Pegasus spyware made by NSO. While the Israeli government has previously said that it only allows cybertech exports for the fight against terrorism and crime, this claim is only now explicitly backed in writing as the government amended the End-Use/User Certificate to specify that use-cases. What purposes can Israel cybertech be used for? Israeli systems can be used only for the prevention and investigation of the following: Terrorist Acts: Intentional acts committed with the aim of Seriously intimidating a population Unduly compelling a Government or international organization to perform or abstain from performing any act Seriously destabilizing or destroying the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country or an international organization. The following are the "intentional acts" laid out in the guidelines: Attacks upon a person’s life which may cause death…
