Spanish Premier’s Phone Was Hacked With Spy Software in 2021
Spanish Prime Minister’s Phone Hacked With Spy Software in 2021
(Bloomberg) -- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s phone was broken into last year with software and data was stolen from the device, the government said Monday.
The breach occurred in May 2021 using the Pegasus spying software, Felix Bolaños, the secretary of state for the prime minister’s office, announced at a news conference. The phone of Defense Minister Margarita Robles was also breached in June of last year, Bolaños said.
The Pegasus software was developed by an Israeli firm, NSO Group., and is used by governments and intelligence agencies in several countries. The software has drawn widespread attention in Spain in recent weeks following media reports that it was widely used between 2017 and 2020 by the government to spy on Catalan secessionist leaders and activists.
The Pegasus surveillance software has been under global scrutiny, and in February, the European Union data agency recommended that it be banned from use in the region.
Pegasus software can track a user’s mobile phone, and its misuse has landed NSO at the center of high-profile privacy and human-rights abuse cases. The product allegedly was supplied to governments that used it to spy on political dissidents, journalists and human-rights activists.
In Spain, the revelations that the software was used to target Catalan separatists put Sanchez under pressure, as his minority government relies on support from the leading secessionist party, known as ERC, to pass legislation. On April 28, the government barely managed to pass a large economic package in parliament after the ERC voted against it due to the scandal surrounding Pegasus.
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