The US will restrict visas for abusers of commercial spyware, including those selling the encryption-busting malware, in an effort to rein in a sprawling, multibillion-dollar industry that has been tied to the repression of dissidents around the world.

The visa ban is designed to further punish spyware manufacturers that are credibly accused of deriving “financial benefit” from the sale of military-grade software to countries that abuse it, the US state department said on Monday.

The ban follows a March 2022 executive order that prohibited any US government agency from purchasing spyware from manufacturers credibly accused of selling to countries that abuse it. In November 2021, the US commerce department placed Israel’s NSO Group, the private equity- backed company that pioneered the industry, on a blacklist.