According to statements made to online media, the presence of Pegasus spyware was detected on the phones of two MEPs as well as an employee of the European Parliament. PoliticoIn an article published on Thursday 22 February.
One of the two elected officials targeted is Nathalie Loiseau (Horizons, Renew Europe Group), president of the Security and Defense Subcommittee and former minister for European affairs in Edouard Philippe’s first government. In an interview given to the point On February 17, it had already announced that it was the target of cyber espionage by the Pegasus spyware. Another relative is Elena Yoncheva, a Bulgarian MP and member of the same subcommittee. According to the article, the attack targeting his plane took place on October 30.
According to PoliticoAn MEP member of the environmental group announced that he “Requests debate on spyware incidents during opening session of next plenary session in Strasbourg”Which will open on February 26.
According to the previous article of Politico, the discovery of spyware on the phones of these elected officials follows a request by the European Parliament to all members of the Security and Defense Subcommittee to check their phones. The crisis comes just months before European elections, when EU countries are scrambling to ramp up their weapons production to support the Ukrainian war effort. Designed by the Israeli company NSO Group, Pegasus, once installed on a phone, allows access to almost all of its content, often without the user’s knowledge.
