Several international newsrooms, including The Guardian, Washington Post and Le Monde, have worked together to review large amounts of leaked data.
The review, which goes by the name The Pegasus project, indicates that the spyware Pegasus has been used to hack phones belonging to activists, lawyers and journalists around the world.
This is despite the fact that the Israeli security company NSO group, which provides the program, believes that it is only intended for use against serious criminals and terrorists.
One of those who has had his phone hacked is the Hungarian journalist Szabolcs Panyi who works at Direkt36, the Pegasus project's Hungarian partner.
- They may have taken everything they want, he says.
Has been hacked several times
Pegasus allows the attacker to view all content on a phone including photos and location data, it can also turn the phone into an audio or video recorder.
A forensic analysis of Szabolc's Panyi phone, carried out by the non-profit organization Amnesty International, shows that his phone was hacked several times over a seven-month period, and that the intrusion often occurred in connection with contacting Hungarian government officials.
- NSO group only sells Pegasus to state and government actors.
This is the most serious violation of journalistic rights in a very long time, says Szabolcs Panyi.
The Hungarian government denies the allegations.
NSO group, the company behind Pegasus, writes in a statement to The Guardian that they themselves do not have access to the data that their customers' customers collect and that they cannot confirm or deny which customers they have with regard to contracts and national security.
They also write that they doubt the significance of the information leaked and that they should "continue to investigate all credible allegations of abuse and take appropriate action".
The company has been suspected of data breaches in the past.
"Completely unacceptable"
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen commented on the spy program at a press conference in Prague on Monday:
- If that is the case, it is completely unacceptable and contrary to all kinds of rules we have in the European Union regarding freedom of the press.
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Ursula von der Leyen on the spy program