Pegasus Scandal: Politician Investigating Spyware Targeted by Cyberattack
A sensational spying scandal in the European Union has entered a new phase. It has been revealed that the phone of Stelios Kouloglou, a Greek journalist, former politician, and member of a special committee investigating the illegal use of the Pegasus software, was breached using that very same spyware. This incident has further intensified concerns regarding governments' use of digital weapons against their critics. This is reported by Techcrunch.com reports that.
Researchers from the University of Toronto's The Citizen Lab confirmed that Kouloglou's device was targeted several times throughout 2022 and 2023. This is the first known case where a member of the European Parliament's PEGA committee has been openly a victim of a cyberattack. This committee was specifically established to investigate the misuse of spyware by European governments.
Zero-click technology and iPhone vulnerability
According to TechCrunch, the cyberattack exploited a security vulnerability in Apple's iPhone smartphones. Experts note that this was a "zero-click" attack, meaning the user was not required to click any suspicious links or download any files. The software gained access to the device through a flaw in the smartphone's smart home system (HomeKit) software.As a result of the attack, hackers gained access to Kouloglou's private correspondence, location data, photos, and even the ability to listen to conversations via the microphone. Most strikingly, one of the attacks coincided with the politician undergoing surgery in a hospital. This may have allowed the spyware operators to monitor his health and private conversations within the hospital.
Political pressure and consequences
Kouloglou described the incident as "extreme irresponsibility." Other European lawmakers view this as a direct attack on the rule of law. There are now demands for the European Commission to take concrete measures to strictly limit the use of spyware across the 27 member states.The Citizen Lab researchers did not disclose which specific state was behind the attack. However, it was discovered that the email address used in the attack had previously been used in attacks against other journalists in Europe. This suggests that Israel's NSO Group, the developer of Pegasus, allowed its client to conduct espionage across several countries.
This incident raises the following critical questions:
- Why are governments using technologies acquired for fighting serious crime against their own critics?
- What legal mechanisms are necessary to ensure digital security on an international level?
- To what extent can Apple and other tech giants protect their users from state-level hacking attacks?
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