{"id":189432,"date":"2026-07-03T18:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/189432\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T18:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:57:14","slug":"eu-lawmaker-probing-pegasus-spyware-reportedly-hacked-by-it-sparking-outrage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/189432\/","title":{"rendered":"EU lawmaker probing Pegasus spyware reportedly hacked by it, sparking outrage"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRUSSELS \u2014 EU lawmakers voiced outrage Friday over a report that a former Greek MEP\u2019s phone was hacked using the Israeli-created Pegasus spyware \u2014 while he was serving on a parliamentary inquiry into the surveillance tool.<\/p>\n

The University of Toronto\u2019s Citizen Lab found that Stelios Kouloglou\u2019s phone was infected with Pegasus in 2022 and 2023, while the left-wing lawmaker sat as a substitute on the European Parliament committee investigating the spyware\u2019s use in Europe.<\/p>\n

The researchers said they had \u201chigh confidence\u201d in their findings but could not say who was behind the alleged espionage, while noting that Pegasus, developed by Israeli firm NSO Group, had been sold to several governments.<\/p>\n

The report issued Friday sparked a wave of indignant reactions at the European Parliament in Brussels.<\/p>\n

Belgian Green lawmaker Saskia Bricmont said she was \u201cshocked,\u201d urging the European Commission to \u201ctake binding measures to ban the illegal use of spyware in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Left group called for \u201cstrong measures\u201d against spyware, arguing that little has been done in Europe to date, while the centrist Renew group said it was \u201cvery concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tThe NSO Group logo is seen on a smartphone placed on a laptop keyboard. (Mundissima\/Alamy)<\/p>\n

An investigative journalist and EU lawmaker until 2024, Kouloglou contacted Citizen Lab himself in May to have his phone examined.<\/p>\n

Questioned about the claim, the European Parliament said its services \u201cconstantly monitor cybersecurity threats as well as potential cyberattacks against its working environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 2022, a spyware detection system has been available to all EU lawmakers, said parliament spokeswoman Delphine Colard.<\/p>\n

The system can identify the possible presence of intrusive software on lawmakers\u2019 private IT and communication devices, she added, noting that checks and support operations are carried out on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

In 2021, a consortium of international media organizations revealed that Pegasus had been used to spy on hundreds of journalists, politicians, human rights activists and business leaders across various countries.<\/p>\n

The scandal led to the creation of the EU parliament inquiry committee, known as PEGA, which wrapped up in 2023 with a series of recommendations for setting conditions on the use of spyware in order to protect citizens from unlawful surveillance.<\/p>\n


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\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRUSSELS \u2014 EU lawmakers voiced outrage Friday over a report that a former Greek MEP\u2019s phone was hacked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[1693,4781,37,56528,56529,14011,56530],"class_list":["post-189432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-eu","tag-european-parliament","tag-israel","tag-nso-group","tag-pegasus-software","tag-spyware","tag-the-citizen-lab"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116857578658758060","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}