Security software vendor Blue Coat has denied selling equipment to the Syrian government, following claims that its technology was used to censor the Internet in the country.

The claims were made by Swedish ‘hacktivist’ group Telecomix, which released 54Gb of log data alleged to have been taken from seven Blue Coat web gateway appliances. This showed that search terms including ‘Israel’ and ‘proxy’ were blocked in the country using the appliances.

Under the Syria Accountability Act 2004, US companies are prohibited from selling any goods in the country.

Blue Coat has questioned Telecomix’s evidence and has denied selling any equipment to the Syrian government."Under Blue Coat’s company policy, sales to countries subject to .S trade embargoes are not authorised," spokesperon told Information Age.

However, the company also conceded to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism that it might be possible that Blue Coat equipment could be acquired via the grey market or on eBay.