Pegasus spy software: Cell phones of Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez and Defense Minister Robles were spied on

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Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez: "A volume of data of an undetermined extent" had been downloaded

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POOL / REUTERS

Spain is said to have used the Israeli spy software Pegasus against leaders of the Catalan independence movement and has been criticized for this.

Now the government in Madrid is reporting a suspected outside espionage attack on the cellphones of leading government officials.

In a press conference scheduled at short notice, Cabinet Minister Félix Bolaños announced that the cell phones of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles had been spied on.

They were tapped "illegally" and "from outside" using the Israeli spy software Pegasus.

It is not an assumption, but "extremely serious facts," said Bolaños.

"We are absolutely certain that it is an attack from outside, because in Spain (...) all interventions are carried out by official bodies and with legal authorization," said the minister.

"In this case, neither of the two circumstances existed." Therefore, there is "not the slightest doubt that it is an external intervention."

According to him, in May 2021 there was two accesses to Sánchez' cell phone and in June 2021 one access to the defense minister's device.

In both cases, "an indefinite amount of data was downloaded from both mobile phones."

There is no evidence that there were any further accesses at a later date.

Bolaños did not say whether the Spanish authorities have any clues as to the origin of the wiretapping or whether it came from abroad.

Allegations of spying put a strain on relations with Catalan pro-independence supporters

The Pegasus software from the Israeli manufacturer NSO is able to read out all data from mobile phones attacked with it.

In addition, Pegasus can switch on the camera and microphone of the respective device unnoticed.

According to the non-governmental organization Amnesty International, up to 50,000 cell phones worldwide could have been spied on with the help of the software.

Allegations of espionage against the Spanish secret service CNI are already straining the relationship between the Sánchez government and supporters of Catalan independence.

On April 18, the Toronto-based research group Citizen Lab published a report that the mobile phones of more than 60 pro-independence supporters were spied on with Pegasus between 2017 and 2020.

The Catalans blame the CNI for this.

asc/AFP