Arms deal sets limits on cyber technologies

Western governments have agreed to enact harsher export controls on sensitive cyber technologies as part of one of the world’s armament agreements.

Additions to the Wassenaar Arrangement, hammered out in Vienna, will require technology companies to get permission from governments to sell a range of security and surveillance software. The 41 Wassenaar signatories – which include the US, UK, Russia and most EU states – have agreed to curb sales of internet “communications surveillance systems” and “intrusion software” – the kind of programs used by agencies such as the US National Security Agency and UK’s GCHQ. Any software that mines metadata – information such as addresses or call lengths, as part of the “envelope” of electronic communications – will be restricted, as well as programs designed to home in on an individual’s internet activity and data. The agreed text also calls for curbs on software that entails “mapping the relational network of an individual or of a group.” Exceptions are provided for companies using such software for marketing or consumer-monitoring purposes. Certain types of malware, particularly software designed to inflict damage on computers, networks or the real-world machinery they control, will also be restricted.