The Spanish government said on Monday that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s phone communication had been hacked with Pegasus malware, an Israeli-made digital hacking tool.
In May and June 2021, both Sánchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles were targeted with malware software, which Madrid described as a “illegal and foreign” breach into official communication.
It’s a striking warning that even Europe’s most powerful leaders’ phones are vulnerable to digital spying.
Sánchez is the first verified head of state from a European or NATO country to be hacked. However, in Europe, proof of political espionage including malware has been growing for months.
Last month, researchers showed that a number of political personalities in Catalonia had been subjected to digital surveillance. Pegasus spyware may have been used on top European Union officials and U.K. government employees, and Pegasus has also been used in Poland and Hungary.
The latest development in the Pegasus story puts extra pressure on lawmakers to limit the use of spyware, which is employed by government agencies all over the world to tap into phones and snoop on targets’ data and interactions.
“Our democracy and the security of the European Union are threatened. It requires a firm reaction from the European authorities,” said Saskia Bricmont, member of a European Parliament inquiry committee into Pegasus’ use in Europe.
She and other lawmakers are calling for “a strict ban on illegal spying software.”
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