Top European Parliament official targeted as spyware abuse spreads

Greek opposition leader's hacking attempt is the first against an MEP to be detected, but it has plenty of company among politicians, journalists and dissidents.

BRUSSELS — As the number of politicians, activists and journalists hacked with spyware grew to include prime ministers and prominent dissidents from the European Union, the world's largest democratic club, the European Parliament in April began checking the phones of its members.

About 200 devices, he achieved his first positive result.

A high-level Greek member of the European Parliament and leader of a major opposition party has been the target of malicious spyware last year, a scan of his phone by technology experts from the Parliament.

Politician Nikos Androulakis, who became the leader of the third At the end of last year, the most important political party, the center- left PASOK-KINAL, submitted his personal mobile device to the European Parliament's new spyware detection technology lab in Brussels.

At the end of last month, experts informed Mr. Androulakis that in September 2021, weeks after he said he would run to lead the opposition party at home, he received an SMS with a link that allegedly installed the Predator spyware, a more clumsy of the famous Pegasus spyware, on his phone, he had clicked on it.

"Look at this serious friend, there is something to gain." the text says in Greek, followed by the link.

Mr. Androulakis, not recognizing the sender, did not take the bait, and therefore his phone was not infected.

The discovery of the attempt , following cases in Spain, Hungary and Poland, have heightened concerns that even in a bloc that claims to be the global standard bearer for democracy and the rule of law, this technology is being used for nefarious political ends.

The European Commission, the E.U. executive, has referred the matter to national authorities, but pressure on it to act intensifies, not least because he has seen his own staff targeted by spyware.

In a letter to a Member of the European Parliament dated July 25 and by the New York Times, the European Commission said that its top justice official Didier Reynders and a number of his aides had received Apple's November notices that their phones had been hacked with spyware. The infection alert and letter were first reported by Reuters.

ImageEuropean Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, on the left. He and a number of his staff had received alerts from Apple in November that their phones had been compromised by spyware. Credit...Stephanie Lecocq/EPA, via Shutterstock

In the letter to Sophie in 't Veld, a Dutch legislator who chairs the European Parliament's special committee on software spies, the European Commission said its own experts were unable to confirm the infection, but found "several indicators of compromise" and could not determine who was behind them.

"Governments are buying this material and it's very, very hard for them to resist the temptation to use it for political purposes," Ms in 't Veld said.

"It's too early to tell what's going on here, but it doesn't look good, does it?" she said du case of Mr. Androulakis."It doesn't matter if the phone was not compromised, the political fact is that there was an attempt," she added.

The government nt Greek said in .. .