Spanish intelligence chief in hot water over Pegasus hacking

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On Thursday, Spain's top spymaster is being chastised over revelations of mobile phone hacking instances that have rendered the country's security system fragile. 

Paz Esteban would be the first woman to head the Spanish CNI intelligence agency; she stood in front of a parliamentary committee for questioning. 

Last month, the Canadian cybersecurity watchdog revealed that the cellphones of over 60 people connected to Catalan separatists were hacked and spied on by the Israeli Pegasus spyware after a failed attempt at independence in 2017.

Catalan separatists, without a second thought, blamed Spanish intelligence for the hacking, threatening to draw out support for the Socialist Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, unless justice is served. 

On Monday, however, the government announced that the phones of Spanish President Pedro Sanchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles, who supervises the intelligence sector, were hacked last year by Pegasus, which is a software manufacturer by "Israel's" NSO Group.

Whether Spain is to blame or not has become under questioning - what is more scandalous is the futility of the Spanish cybersecurity system. 

Questions have been arising on whether Esteban will remain head of Spanish intelligence; Spokesperson Isabel Rodriguez on Tuesday said she will not be addressing "future scenarios".

Catalan separatists have been demanding the Defense Minister's resignation over the matter. 

Morocco likely involved in Pegasus hacking 200+ Spanish mobile numbers

According to data timestamps, mobile number selections alleged to have been made by Morocco occurred in 2019 amount to 200. The data comprises more than 50,000 numbers of individuals picked as possible surveillance targets by NSO clients around the world.

Amnesty International revealed that a Spanish mobile number belonging to Aminatou Haidar, a famous human rights activist from Western Sahara, was included in the leaked database and discovered to have been targeted by Pegasus dating back to 2018.

Traces of the Pegasus spyware, which is manufactured by the Israeli company NSO Group, were also discovered on Haidar's second phone as recently as November 2021.

The Pegasus Project database also included a Spanish phone number for journalist Ignacio Cembrero, whose work focuses on the Maghreb.

The inclusion of over 200 Spanish mobile phone numbers chosen by a client thought to be from Morocco does not imply that each number was targeted or hacked. However, it does indicate that the customer was active in looking for potential targets for monitoring within Spain.

The fact that a number appeared on the leaked list was not indicative of whether that number was targeted for monitoring using Pegasus, according to NSO. NSO also claimed that the database was of "no relevance" to the corporation.

Morocco previously denied spying on foreign leaders with Pegasus and claimed that journalists examining NSO were "unable to prove [the country's] link" with NSO.

However, an examination of the released documents revealed that Morocco appears to have named dozens of French leaders as possible targets for espionage, including President Emmanuel Macron.