Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Europe

Pegasus spyware attack targeted Spanish prime minister’s phone

Pegasus spyware attack targeted Spanish prime minister’s phone, Transatlantic Today

MADRID (Transatlantic Today) — Authorities stated Monday that the mobile phones of the Spanish prime minister and minister of defense were infected with Pegasus spyware, which is exclusively available to government institutions. 

According to Cabinet Minister Félix Bolaos, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s cell phone was hacked twice during May 2021, and Defense Minister Margarita Robles’ cell phone was hacked in the following month. 

Bolaos stated during a hurriedly scheduled media conference in Madrid that the breaches, which resulted in a considerable quantity of data being seized, were not approved by a Spanish court, which is a legal necessity of national covert operations. 

Throughout those months, the Socialist administration was under scrutiny for its handling of a significant foreign policy conflict with Morocco, as well as a severe domestic conflict over the liberation of imprisoned separatists from Spain’s fractious Catalonia region. 

Bolaos was adamant about not speculating on who or what could have motivated the Pegasus breach. The breach was investigated by the National Court, and a parliamentary commission on intelligence matters was created to investigate it. 

Over 8,000 migrants from Morocco pushed their way into Spain’s North African territory of Ceuta in May 2021 by scaling or swimming past a border fence. Spain sent armored vehicles and personnel to the area to prevent further migrants from entering the country. 

That issue erupted when Madrid and Rabat clashed over Spain’s decision to offer COVID-19 treatment to a major Sahrawi leader battling for the liberation of Western Sahara, which Morocco acquired in the 1970s after it was briefly under Spanish authority. 

Moroccan officials denied encouraging massive migration into Ceuta, which occurred as Spain struggled to deal with thousands of African migrants. 

Before Monday’s disclosure, the government had already been pressed to explain why, between 2017 and 2020, the smartphones of dozens of persons linked to the separatist rebellion in northeastern Catalonia were infiltrated with Pegasus. 

The Catalan conflict has troubled Spanish governments for generations, with separatists wanting to split away from Spain and activists conducting occasionally violent street rallies. 

At least 65 individuals are named in the spyware discoveries, which were made by Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity firm connected with the University of Toronto. They include political officials, attorneys, and activists with ties to Catalonia. 

They were attacked by software developed by 2 Israeli companies, NSO Group and Candiru, the Pegasus creator. The software infiltrates phones and other devices invisibly in order to collect data and maybe spy on their users. 

The regional Catalan administration has accused Spain’s National Intelligence Center, or CNI, of spying on separatists, putting relations with national authorities on pause until complete answers are given and those involved are punished. 

In 2017, the conservative Popular Party, or PP, was in power when Catalan separatists proclaimed independence in an unlawful referendum, but no action was done to put the declaration into effect. The PP remained in office until mid-2018, when Sánchez won a legislative vote to depose them. 

The spying scandal is causing havoc in Spanish democracy. The ERC, Catalonia’s largest political party and a key supporter of the present administration, has demanded that Robles, the defense minister, quit. According to ABC NEWS, the espionage issue has exposed them to pressure from more extreme separatists who want to end backing for Sánchez’s left-to-center alliance in the national parliament. 

With promises of complete openness, declarations of intentions for an internal inquiry by the nation’s intelligence agency, as well as a separate probe by Spain’s ombudsman, the national government has tried to address their worries. 

A special parliamentary panel on national secrets has also been formed, and the director of CNI is set to be questioned by House members later this week, despite the fact that conversations about state security matters are not supposed to be made public.

You May Also Like

Europe

Ukrainian officials have spoken of establishing territorial defense units and partisan warfare, but they admit that these resources are insufficient to thwart a Russian...

Features

As Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, it does so while featuring neo-nazi mercenaries from groups like the Wagner Group and others.

Society

New York (Transatlantic Today) – Is watching bestiality illegal? The topic of bestiality, defined as the act of a human engaging in sexual activity...

Features

The current circumstances involving Russian ambitions to acquire, in the eyes of the international community at least, or, at the very least, preserve as...