What is Pegasus and which politicians has it spied on?

• Spain The Government denounces that the cell phones of Pedro Sánchez and Margarita Robles have been intervened by Pegasus in an "external attack"

• International Who's who of the victims of phones infected by Pegasus

The Government has reported this Sunday that the mobile phones of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, were subjected to "illegal and external" wiretapping by the

program , according to two technical reports from

.

But

What is Pegasus?

spyware

is the work of the Israeli company NSO.

Considered the most penetrating cyber espionage

in the world, it is capable of penetrating a mobile phone, sucking up all its information, activating its camera or even recovering deleted messages in the past without the user being aware of the infiltration.

The police use of

in

began in 2015 and was promoted by Chief Inspector

, who would have brought to the Police espionage practices used in his previous position as number two of the internal secret service against Palestinian armed groups.

This type of spyware or

exploits vulnerabilities in the operating system, usually by sending a message.

Once the malicious message is opened, the infected mobile responds to orders from the

.

Which Spanish politicians has Pegasus spied on?

Pedro Sanchez and Margarita Robles

spyware intrusions

in the mobile phone of the Prime Minister,

, in May 2021, and one in that of the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, in June of that same year. , with no evidence that there was any later.

The illegal intervention has been verified during an investigation that is still underway and that will reach all members of the Government.

At the moment, the Government does emphasize that these intrusions through the

espionage system are "illicit" and "external".

60 Catalan independence leaders

The

' complaint stems from an article published in

with data obtained by the Canadian laboratory

, which would indicate that some 60 pro-independence leaders have been infected with the

cyber espionage program .

The entire independence movement, beginning with the Government, accuses Spain and its institutions of being behind this espionage.

According to the information, among the more than 60 mobile devices of pro-independence leaders are those of

, former presidents

and

, as well as other pro-independence leaders such as the president of the Parliament,

, the councilor in Barcelona

or

MEP

.

could also have been spied

on through people close to him such as his wife

, his lawyer

and his adviser and friend

, since the mobile system of the former president and current MEP makes it difficult to certify that he has been infected. with

.

According to the body dependent on the Canadian University of Toronto, only the general secretary of Junts -then president of the ANC-,

, had been spied on with

in power.

It would have happened, specifically, in 2017, coinciding with the highest point of the secessionist process, since in that year the 1-O and the unilateral declaration of independence took place.

Despite the fact that the

Center (

) would have acquired the purchase of the spy program in 2016 and, therefore, during the last

Government , the document on which the secessionists base all their accusations indicates that more than 90% of The punctures were made after the investiture of

in June 2018.

Specifically, 35 of the 37 that

has managed to locate temporarily took place as of October 2019, this is from the procés trial and when the current President of the Government managed to revalidate his position thanks to the support he received from

in exchange of the setting up of the "negotiation table on the conflict".

It is not the first time that the name of Catalan leaders investigated with

has been leaked ,

Since a few months ago it was known that

,

and

were spied on, although at the time the Government expressed its concern about this situation.

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Know more

• Pedro Sanchez

• Margaret Oaks