---
alias:
- Degem Computers
- Degem Systems
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: 2026-09-22
---

[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](/organizations/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. [Ari Ben-Menashe](/people/ari-ben-menashe/) alleged that in Transkei Degem's implementation of PROMIS was 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.