The newly appointed prime minister of Poland declared on Tuesday that he possesses evidence demonstrating that the previous government’s officials misused the highly influential Pegasus spyware and deliberately targeted a large number of individuals for hacking purposes.

During a press conference, Donald Tusk revealed that the alleged use of Pegasus occurred under the leadership of the right-wing Law and Justice party. He was joined by President Andrzej Duda, who is a political rival aligned with the previous ruling party.

Pegasus enables operators to have full control over a mobile device, granting them the ability to obtain passwords, pictures, texts, contacts, and browsing histories. It also allows them to remotely activate the microphone and camera for live monitoring.

Tusk stated that he shared evidence with Duda indicating widespread usage of the spyware in Poland.

“This is only a sample of the documents that are at your disposal, Mr. President,” he said at the start of a meeting of the Cabinet Council, a consultation format between the president and the government. Duda called the meeting to discuss other matters.

The prime minister stated that he requested the justice minister and prosecutor general to supply Duda with evidence that definitively proves the acquisition and usage of Pegasus, both legally and illegally.

The response from the president has not been made public.

In December, Tusk assumed control after winning the October election as the leader of a wide centrist coalition. This marked the conclusion of eight years of governance by Law and Justice, a populist party that the European Union accused of undermining democratic principles.

The recent formation of a special committee by the parliament is aimed at investigating the usage of Pegasus and its targets during the tenure of Law and Justice in office.

Tusk stated that there is a lengthy list of individuals who have fallen victim to these practices, but it has not been made available to the public.

The Associated Press reported exclusively that the University of Toronto’s nonprofit Citizen Lab found that Polish individuals who opposed the previous government were spied on using Pegasus, a spyware made by Israel’s NSO Group.

John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab who first uncovered instances of Pegasus usage in Poland, stated that this serves as validation for both the victims involved and the technical and forensic techniques utilized to confirm the presence of infections.

According to Scott-Railton, the use of spyware such as Pegasus poses a threat to democracy and has the potential for abuse built into it. This statement was provided to the AP.

The NSO Group claims to only provide their spyware to authorized government agencies that have been approved by Israel’s Defense Ministry for the purpose of combating terrorism and crime. However, there have been instances where governments have used this technology to target human rights activists and politicians.

Citizen Lab was contacted by individuals who received iPhone notifications from Apple informing them of being hacked, seeking verification.

Scott-Railton stated that the confirmation from Tusk serves as validation for the important role of Apple’s threat notifications in promoting responsibility for the misuse of commercial spyware. In Poland, these notifications were the initial indication for researchers and journalists that there was a potential scandal involving spyware.

Source: wral.com