A hack of the Spanish Prime Minister’s phone has deepened Europe’s spyware crisis, making him the first EU head of state to be confirmed to have fallen victim to Pegasus. It means that the spyware scandal in Europe has just hit the continent’s top tanks.
The Spanish government said that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was hacked with Pegasus software, which is an Israeli-made digital hacking tool that is used to spy on phone communication.
Sanchez was not the only one to be hacked in the top government tier in Spain. Defense Minister Margarita Robles fell victim to the software in May and June of last year as well, in what Madrid said was an “illegal and external” intrusion of government communication.
The spyware hack is a bleak reminder that even the phones of the most powerful people are not safe from digital espionage.
Sanchez is the first confirmed head of a European nation and a NATO nation to fall victim to the spyware. But evidence of digital espionage in Europe has been mounting for months.
Researchers last month revealed that many political figures in Catalonia were victims of digital spying. Top officials from the European Union as well as the United Kingdom may have also been targeted with Pegasus spyware.
European governments have been wary to get into details of spyware, partially because tools like Pegasus have served security authorities around the globe in fighting crime and warding off their own national security threats.
Last month, Spain denied that its government illegally spied on dozens of Catalan independence leaders.
After the news that Sanchez was hacked, Catalan regional President Pere Aragones accused Madrid of double standards. He said that when mass espionage is conducted against Catalan institutions and their independents, they receive silence and excuses.
The confirmation that a prime minister’s phone was hacked could be a watershed moment for activists and experts on the dangers of political hacking.
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