The EU Commission has found evidence of spy software on the phones of top EU officials. However, it is not certain whether this is the Israeli software Pegasus, according to a letter from EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders, which was available to the AFP news agency on Thursday. “Checking several devices has revealed evidence of spy software,” says Reynders’ letter to Dutch MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld, who is part of the European Parliament’s investigative committee.
An internal investigation did not confirm “that Pegasus infected private or company phones,” says Reynders’ response to a request from the commission of inquiry. The EU Commissioner also mentions that in November 2021 he received a tip from Apple that his phone might be spied on by Pegasus. Other employees of the Commission were also warned. The Commission’s investigations are ongoing.
The investigative committee was set up after Canadian organization Citizien Lab discovered that more than 60 pro-independence Catalans had been spied on using Pegasus. The Spanish secret service later confessed to it.
Poland and Hungary are also suspected of using this software, which can turn on the camera and microphone of phones and collect the data. When asked by the committee of inquiry, both countries replied that the issues involved were national security.
