US Lawmakers Seek Blacklist of Indian Hack for Hire Firms

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is asking the federal government to place three Indian technology firms on an economic sanctions list over allegations that they ran hack-for-hire operations targeting Americans for more than fifteen years. Democratic Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, along with Republican Representative Pat Harrigan of North Carolina, sent a letter on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, urging Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to add BellTroX, CyberRoot, and Sunkissed Organic Farms Pvt Ltd, formerly known as Appin Technology, and its subsidiaries to the Commerce Department's Entity List. One report described the letter as addressed to the Treasury Department, but most accounts identified Commerce as the recipient. A designation on the Entity List would bar US businesses from transacting with the named companies and cut off their access to American software, cloud infrastructure, and cybersecurity tools. The letter alone imposes no penalties, and it remains unclear whether the Commerce Department will act on the request. The department did not respond to requests for comment.