Poland probes former government's use of Israeli spyware

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Guardian
1 Apr 2024 11:24

Individuals targeted by Pegasus hacking will receive notifications, and former officials may face criminal charges.

A smartphone with a lock screen on display and the logo of the Israeli NSO spyware firm in the background in 2022. (AFP)

Poland has initiated a probe into the usage of the contentious Israeli spyware Pegasus by its former government, The Guardian reported.

A parliamentary inquiry has commenced, and there is a prospect of former government officials facing criminal charges. Adam Bodnar, Poland's new justice minister, said as quoted by The Guardian that individuals targeted with Pegasus would be informed in the following months.

According to Polish law, they would then have the option to pursue financial compensation and participate in any potential criminal investigations.

“There is a decent chance that within a couple of months, we’ll have quite extensive knowledge of how this equipment was used and for what purpose,” said Bodnar.

Regarding potential legal action in the future, he remarked, “We don’t know who will be accused … if the investigation goes into the direction of accusing some persons, some ministers or officers of the security services.”

What can Pegasus do?

Developed by the Israeli NSO Group, Pegasus, which can seize control of a smartphone's microphone and camera, hit global headlines when a leak in 2021 showed how governments used it to spy on critics, journalists, and NGOs.

In 2021, a group of media organizations gained access to a data breach revealing thousands of phone numbers targeted by Pegasus in various countries. The leak also exposed the spyware's usage against media and civil society groups, including in Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's leadership.

Subsequently, a separate investigation conducted by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab uncovered Pegasus' use in Poland, targeting individuals associated with the Civic Platform party, then in opposition and now part of the governing coalition following parliamentary elections last October. Among the purported targets was MEP Krzysztof Brejza, who was campaigning for Civic Platform at the time.

Following the victory of the coalition led by Civic Platform's Donald Tusk in Poland's parliamentary elections last fall, the new government pledged to investigate alleged misconduct by the previous right-wing nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) administration. The new authorities have made changes in the management of state-controlled television and initiated actions that could result in the removal of PiS ally Adam Glapiński from his position as governor of the central bank.

'The data is going to Israel'

The parliamentary commission investigating Pegasus has commenced amid widespread speculation regarding potential additional targets of the spyware. Magdalena Sroka, the MP leading the commission, stated following its inaugural meeting, “Too long we’ve been lied to about Pegasus by PiS and we’re going to get to the bottom of it now.”

Justice Minister Bodnar, a lawyer and former human rights ombudsman appointed by Tusk, indicated that while the full list of targets remains confidential for now, it includes many more prominent individuals than those already disclosed. "This list is significantly more extensive than the list that has been made public already, a lot of other interesting public people,” he noted.

Rather than releasing a comprehensive list of targets, the justice ministry and intelligence services intend to assess cases that seem to be politically motivated or abusive. Individuals identified as targets will be notified individually through letters. This approach allows individuals to decide whether they wish to publicize the information or participate in potential legal proceedings regarding the surveillance.

Bodnar said: “Apparently all those requests for using Pegasus had court authorization, but most probably the courts didn’t know what kind of equipment would be used … They were authorizing this but they did not know that [it involved] a program that doesn’t have proper authorization, and the data is going to Israel.”

It is worth noting that Polish authorities have reportedly ceased using Pegasus in 2021, coinciding with the public exposure of the spyware's details by media outlets. This revelation included the disclosure that the numbers targeted by clients were also logged by NSO Group, posing a potential security risk.