2021 Pegasus attack targeted Spanish PM Sanchez’s phone

The Spanish government is under pressure to explain why the cellphones of dozens of people connected to the separatist movement were infected with Pegasus between 2017 and 2020

Spanish officials said Monday that the cellphones of the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister were infected last year with Pegasus spyware that is only available to government agencies in an unauthorised operation.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s mobile phone was breached twice in May 2021, and Defense Minister Margarita Robles’ device was targeted once the following month, Presidency Minister Félix Bolanos said Monday in a hastily convened news conference.

He said the breaches resulted in a significant amount of data being obtained, and that reports detailing the hacking have been transferred to Spain’s National Court for further investigation.

“We have no doubt that this is an illicit, unauthorized intervention,” Mr. Bolanos said. “It comes from outside state organisms and it didn’t have judicial authorisation.”

Spain’s Socialist-led government is under pressure to explain why the cellphones of dozens of people connected to the separatist movement in the northeastern Catalonia region were infected with Pegasus between 2017 and 2020, according to Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity group of experts affiliated with the University of Toronto.

The revelations involve at least 65 people, including elected officials, lawyers and activists, targeted with the software of two Israeli companies, Candiru and NSO Group, the developer of Pegasus.

The spyware silently infiltrates phones or other devices to harvest data and potentially spy on their owners.