Spyware

Jeroen Lenaers, Chair of the European Parliament's Committee of Inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (PEGA), issued a statement Wednesday clarifying that there was no request from PEGA to the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) regarding an investigation into the alleged wiretapping scandal in Greece. 

The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) is investigating the use of illegal spyware in wiretaps on journalists, politicians, businesspeople and members of the public in Greece, Euractiv reported on Tuesday.

MP Giannis Ragousis speaks in a debate on a proposal by opposition party PASOK-KINAL to set up a parliamentary probe into the phone tapping scandal in Greece, August 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/Yannis Kolesidis

Riot police officers in Thessaloniki, Greece. Photo: EPA-EFE/DIMITRIS TOSIDIS

According to the Greek media outlet Kathimerini, the seven persons, two lieutenant generals and five major generals, served in critical positions such as the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit and the Attica Security department, the Internal Affairs Service and the Police Intelligence Division.

Officers from the police's cybercrime division have raided the home of a female suspect connected to the Predator spyware scandal.

The suspect, who was not named, was reportedly an employee and shareholder of Intellexa, the Athens-based company that sells the tracking software.

Greek journalists and officials testified on Thursday at the first hearing of a European Parliamentary inquiry on the use of Predator surveillance spyware in Greece.

Apple disclosed serious security vulnerabilities for iPhones, iPads and Macs that could potentially allow attackers to take complete control of these devices.

Apple released two securityreports about the issue on Wednesday, although they didn't receive wide attention outside of tech publications.

Kwiatkowski said that the Audit Office had already pointed out in 2018 that the expenditure was illegal according to Polish law, because such purchases by the CBA should come from the state budget and face proper parliamentary scrutiny.

Apple on Nov. 23 sued the Israeli spyware maker at the center of the Pegasus surveillance scandal, seeking to block NSO Group from targeting the over one billion iPhones in circulation.

Security researchers disclosed on Nov. 8 that spyware from the notorious Israeli hacker-for-hire company NSO Group was detected on the cellphones of six Palestinian human rights activists, half affiliated with groups that Israel's defense minister controversially claimed were involved in terrorism.