---
category: Private Organization
created: 2024-04-25
location: Israel
summary: Degem was an Israeli-controlled computer company with operations in Israel,
  Guatemala, and Transkei, alleged to have been the primary vehicle through which
  Robert Maxwell distributed backdoored PROMIS software to foreign governments worldwide.
tags:
- Organization
- Private
- Technology
- Israel
- PROMIS
updated: 2026-05-01
---

[Degem](/organizations/degem/) was an Israeli-controlled computer company with operations in [Israel](/places/israel/), [Guatemala](/places/guatemala/), and Transkei (a Bantustan homeland controlled by [South Africa](/places/south-africa/)). It was originally controlled by Israeli military intelligence and provided computer services to South Africa and Guatemala before passing into the hands of [Robert Maxwell](/people/robert-maxwell/).[^1]

### Ownership and PROMIS Distribution

Maxwell acquired Degem after its previous owner, [Yaacov Meridor](/people/yaacov-meridor/), faced a scandal. According to Gordon Thomas's account in *Gideon's Spies* (1999), drawing on Israeli intelligence sources, Maxwell used Degem as his principal commercial vehicle for distributing a surveillance-modified version of [PROMIS](/programs/promis/) software to foreign governments and institutions, with the operation coordinated through [Rafael Eitan](/people/rafael-eitan/) and [LAKAM](/organizations/lakam/). The modified PROMIS contained a covert trapdoor enabling remote monitoring of database queries.[^2]

Through Degem, Maxwell sold PROMIS-derived software to agencies in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Poland, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Nicaragua. In 1985, an abridged version was sold to Credit Suisse, providing intelligence access to Israeli accounts held there. In the late 1980s, Degem technicians installed the trapdoor-equipped software on IBM computers delivered to the Soviet Union, an arrangement facilitated by the lifting of IBM export restrictions.[^1]

In Guatemala, Degem worked through [Manfred Herrmann](/people/manfred-herrmann/)'s Sedra company to deploy PROMIS terminals at offices, railway stations, airports, and remote roadblocks, contributing to a surveillance system tracking suspected dissidents. In Transkei, Degem's implementation of PROMIS was alleged to have been used as a tool against black revolutionary groups including the [African National Congress](/organizations/african-national-congress/), providing information that led to the detention, disappearance, or death of activists.[^1]

### Official Findings

The [Bua Report](/people/nicholas-j-bua/) (1993) found no credible evidence that enhanced PROMIS had been distributed to any foreign entity, concluding that only public-domain versions of the software had been shared internationally. The report found the allegations of a Maxwell-Degem distribution network to rest on unsupported claims from sources it characterized as unreliable.[^3]

[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* TrineDay, 1992.
[^2]: Thomas, Gordon. *Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad.* St. Martin's Press, 1999.
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993.