Tal Dilian
| Tal Dilian | |
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| Nationality | Israeli |
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| Occupation | Intelligence officer; spyware executive |
| Known for | Founder of Intellexa; convicted in the Greek Predator scandal, 2026 |
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Tal Dilian (טל דיליאן) is an Israeli former intelligence officer and the founder of the spyware consortium Intellexa. He is a colonel in the reserves. From 1998 to 2002 he commanded the technological unit of the Intelligence Corps, after joining it in 1994. In February 2026 an Athens court convicted him, with three others, of breaching the confidentiality of telephone communications and of illegally accessing information systems in the Greek wiretapping scandal. Each was sentenced to 126 years and eight months, capped at eight years to be served, pending appeal. In 2024 the US Treasury sanctioned the consortium he built.[1][2]
The army
He served in several posts at Intelligence Corps headquarters, then in the technological unit from 1994, and as its commander from 1998 to 2002. After claims of irregularities in the unit, the military investigative police opened an inquiry. He left the service and moved into the private sale of the same class of tool. The unit is not Unit 8200. It is the technology arm of military intelligence. The staffing claim made about the spyware trade attaches to him by that route.[3]
The companies
In 2019 he founded Intellexa, a consortium selling data-gathering tools. The implant, Predator, was developed by Cytrox, inside the group. Shells have been registered in Greece, Ireland and North Macedonia. His then wife and business partner, Sara Aleksandra Hamou, was the business manager. Felix Bitzios was a shareholder. In November 2019 Cyprus police seized a van belonging to his company WiSpear, carrying intelligence equipment valued at $9 million, and in December arrested three employees. In February 2022 a court in Larnaca found the company guilty of privacy, communications and customs offences, after an investigation found it had extracted information from wireless systems it had been asked to install at Hermes airport.[1]
Greece
The scandal known as Predatorgate broke in 2022. A financial journalist, Thanasis Koukakis, and the leader of PASOK said they had been under surveillance by phone malware. Court documents said Koukakis’s phone was infected with Predator. Traces were later found on dozens of phones. ICIJ and OCCRP put the figure at 87, including the opposition leader, ministers, intelligence officers, the editor of a national newspaper, and businessmen. The head of the Greek intelligence service and the prime minister’s chief of staff were sacked. In 2024 the Supreme Court prosecutor shelved a case against the service and sent the four defendants to be tried on misdemeanour charges.[1][2]
On 26 February 2026 the Athens Misdemeanour Court convicted Dilian, Hamou, Bitzios and Giannis Lavranos, owner of the supplier Krikel. None entered a formal plea. All denied the charges. The court sent the file back for investigation of espionage, violation of state secrets, trafficking in spyware, and the role of people on the intelligence service payroll. In March 2026 Dilian told the programme MEGA Stories, in a written statement, that the firm sells only to authorised governments, does not conduct the surveillance itself, and that responsibility “rests with the sovereign authorities that acquire and operate them.” He was asked whether Intellexa had worked with state agencies or private individuals against at least 87 Greek targets. The opposition read the answer as an admission that the state had run it. He used it as the company’s defence.[4]
See also
- Intellexa
- Cytrox
- NSO Group
- Paragon Solutions
- Candiru
- Unit 8200
- Cyber and tech firms founded by ex Unit 8200 or occupation forces veterans
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Greek court convicts Intellexa founder Tal Dilian, ICIJ, 26 February 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Greek court finds four guilty of prying on private data, Reuters, 26 February 2026.
- ↑ Contemporary biographical accounts place him as commander of the Intelligence Corps technological unit, 1998–2002, and as the subject of a military police inquiry into irregularities.
- ↑ Convicted Spyware Dealer Links Greek Government to Surveillance Scandal, OCCRP, 13 March 2026.