Bulgaria allowed surveillance tech firm to sell products to repressive regimes, report says
2026-06-19T02:51:51Z•0a4452cc6f3b29caf2288951125bc105730ad61a580acf467a29ad2bb4eae5a7
CISA fundingCircles (company)EU cybersecurity reserveGentlemen (ransomware)MS-ISACNCSCU.S. congressional oversightUkrainecritical infrastructureexport controlshuman rightsnation-state activityoperational disruptionransomwaresurveillance
What happened
Collection of cybersecurity and surveillance developments: Human Rights Watch obtained Bulgarian export-licensing records (2018–2023) showing the surveillance company Circles was allowed to sell technology to law enforcement/intelligence agencies in countries with documented human-rights abuses. Australian sugar producer Mackay Sugar reported an operational shutdown amid a ransomware claim by a prolific extortion group. UK NCSC CEO warned that nation-states are responsible for the majority of attacks on Britain’s critical infrastructure and are prepositioning across targets. The EU granted KyI
Why it matters
A reviewed impact interpretation has not been published for this record.
Evidence and limitations
- Source ID
- therecord_media
- Record identifier
- 0a4452cc6f3b29caf2288951125bc105730ad61a580acf467a29ad2bb4eae5a7
- Enrichment time
- 2026-06-19T02:51:51Z
- AI-assisted enrichment
- Yes
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