Pegasus spyware usage crisis for democracy: Poland opposition leader

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On Tuesday, Poland's opposition leader, Donald Tusk, said reports that the government spied on its opponents were the country's largest "crisis for democracy."

Last week, a cyber-security watchdog revealed that the Pegasus spyware had been used to target important opposition figures, dubbed "Polish Watergate" by Polish media.

Former EU President Tusk, who now leads the Civic Platform party, told reporters, "This is unprecedented in our history," adding that "This is the biggest, deepest crisis for democracy since 1989."

Tusk also demanded a parliamentary investigation into charges that Pegasus was used against Krzysztof Brejza, a member of his party who was in charge of the party's election campaign in 2019.

Pegasus was also used against Roman Giertych, a lawyer involved in litigation against the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, and Ewa Wrzosek, a prosecutor and opposition figure, according to Citizen Lab, a Canadian cyber-security group.

Pegasus turns smartphones into pocket espionage devices, allowing users to read the target's messages, browse their images, monitor their location, and even turn on their camera without the target's knowledge.

The software, developed by Israeli business NSO Group, sparked outrage earlier this year after a joint investigation by several news sites revealed that governments had used Pegasus to spy on activists, journalists, attorneys, and politicians.

Polish PM: no knowledge of Pegasus use

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he had "no knowledge" of any wiretapping, but that if it was proven, it might "potentially" be the work of foreign intelligence agencies.

The assertions that Polish services "use these methods in operational work for political ends" are false, according to Stanislaw Zaryn, a spokesman for the ministry in charge of secret services.

He neither confirmed nor denied that Poland had utilized Pegasus, but he did say that "operational work" in Poland may only be done on the prosecutor general's request and with a court order.

Poland: NSO's Pegasus spyware hacks two opposition figures

Israeli NSO group Pegasus spyware was used in Poland on at least 2 confirmed occasions. The first incident was the hacking into the phone of a high-profile lawyer, Roman Giertych, who represents top Polish opposition figures took place in the final weeks of the 2019 parliamentary elections in Poland.

The second took place in 2021 when a prosecutor, Krzysztof Brejza, defying populist right-wing attempted to remove the judiciary had her smartphone hacked.

In both instances, Pegasus, the NSO military-grade spyware capable of remote zero-click surveillance of smartphones, was the perpetrator, according to investigators of the University of Toronto-based Citizen Lab internet watchdog.

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