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Date Published: 11/05/2022
ARCHIVED - This is the spyware scandal that has put Spain in the spotlight
Pegasus hacking software was used to access the phones of several high-ranking officials in Spain, including President Sánchez
The head of Spain’s CNI intelligence agency, Paz Esteban, was sacked this week in the midst of a growing scandal which has seen the phones of dozens of top politicians hacked by Pegasus spyware.
Developed in Israel for use against criminal organisations and terrorists, Pegasus spyware can infect iPhones and Android devices, extracting information and even recording conversations by means of tiny cameras and microphones. Since the scandal broke, the company is facing legal action from both Apple and Microsoft and the European parliament is investigating a serious breach of EU law.
The drama unfolded when more than 60 Catalan separatists accused the Spanish government of hacking their phones to spy on their activities, but it soon came to light that the President of the government, Pedro Sánchez, along with Defence Minister Margarita Robles and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska had also been targeted by the Pegasus software.
The spy chief’s dismissal after three years in office has been widely criticised in Spain, with many opposition figures accusing Sánchez of using her as a scapegoat to quell the outrage of pro-independence parties at the security breach.
“You speak of dismissal, I speak of substitution,” Ms Robles commented, having appointed her own deputy, Esperanza Casteleiro, as the new head of CNI.
It has now come to light that the president’s phone was hacked twice in May last year and that at least some data had been extracted from it by “illicit and external” means. The Spanish government denies that Morocco, with whom tensions were high at the time, was behind the security hack, although the nation, along with Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, have all been linked to the scandal.
Although Catalan President Pere Aragonès was also targeted by the Pegasus spyware, he has defended the work of the CNI, insisting that in Spain, “no-one is investigated for their political ideas”. In fact, the defence minister has since confirmed that 18 Catalan separatists were being spied on, with full court approval.
Since the scandal erupted in Spain, other countries have also lodged similar complaints: journalists in Hungary have accused their government of spying on them while Polish leaders have openly admitted to using the surveillance system, although not for political purposes.
Image: Guardia Civil
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