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The Atlantic Council’s updated spyware-market sample identifies the United States as the largest investor jurisdiction in its dataset. That finding signals that US capital is connected to a growing commercial-surveillance industry, but it does not establish that every named financial firm knowingly funded abuses or directly controlled a spyware vendor.
What the updated investor figures show
The Atlantic Council’s 2025 report, Mythical Beasts: Diving into the depths of the global spyware market, tracks entities and investment relationships identified in public information through 2024. The figures describe the updated sample—not a complete count of the market or a measure of investment dollars.
| Measure | Reported figure | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| US-based investors | 31 in the updated sample, compared with 11 previously | The update identifies 20 additional US-based investors; this is a change in the sample, not proof that all 20 began investing during 2024. |
| Entities covered | 561 across 46 countries | The Atlantic Council’s dataset spans entities identified from 1992 through 2024. |
| Investors across the dataset | 128, up from 94 | WIRED reported this total in its 2025 coverage of the Atlantic Council update. |
The Atlantic Council says US-based investment identified from 2023 to 2024 outpaced that of other major investor countries in its earlier dataset, including Italy, Israel and the United Kingdom. The report’s “largest” ranking is therefore about the jurisdictions represented in its updated sample; it is not a ranking by dollars invested.
Why US money is reaching spyware companies
The report documents investment links, but it does not establish a single motive shared by investors. It does show why such links can form: the commercial spyware market includes vendors as well as resellers and brokers that connect vendors, suppliers, customers and investors. The Atlantic Council says these intermediaries occupy a larger share of its updated sample than previously shown and can make relationships harder to see.
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As a result, an investment connection may not look like a direct purchase of a spyware company. Publicly visible relationships can involve intermediaries or companies with broader portfolios, and the available figures do not reveal the dollar value, voting control, intent or due diligence associated with every investment. A named connection should not be treated as proof that an investor directed surveillance or knew of a particular abuse.
Examples show a tension with US policy
The Atlantic Council report names AE Industrial Partners’ late-2024 investment in Paragon Solutions, an Israeli spyware vendor whose Graphite product has been associated with surveillance cases. It also names Integrity Partners’ early-2025 investment in Saito Tech Ltd, known as Candiru. The report notes that Candiru has been on the US Commerce Department’s Entity List since 2021.
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Those examples illustrate how capital associated with US-based investors can reach vendors subject to US government measures. They do not, by themselves, show that either investor violated a law or that the investments were prohibited. They do raise a policy question: whether measures aimed at restricting a vendor can be undermined when investment flows through the broader commercial ecosystem.
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WIRED’s 2025 reporting says the dataset links D.E. Shaw & Co., Millennium Management, Jane Street and Ameriprise Financial to Israeli lawful-interception provider Cognyte. This is reported attribution to investment relationships in the dataset, not evidence that those firms directly controlled Cognyte or its products.
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Why the investment trend matters
Commercial spyware has enabled covert surveillance of journalists, human-rights defenders, politicians, diplomats and others. That creates human-rights harms and national-security risks, particularly when surveillance tools are misused or spread beyond the contexts claimed by vendors.
Investment matters because capital can help sustain companies and the networks around them. The Atlantic Council characterizes the growth and evolution of this market as a challenge for policymakers seeking to curb proliferation and misuse. The contrast between US investment links and government actions such as sanctions, entity listings or visa restrictions underscores that policy controls on vendors may not address every financial or intermediary relationship.
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What the figures cannot establish
- The Atlantic Council describes its dataset as a snapshot, not a census of the global spyware market.
- The reported counts do not state the value of each investment or establish the degree of control any investor held.
- The dataset and public reporting do not establish the intent, awareness or due diligence of each financial firm.
- A newly identified investor in the update is not necessarily a firm that started investing in the year it was identified.
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