Source: Middle East Monitor
Reports suggest the European Union has come across proof that a spy software from an Israeli company comprised some of its employees’ smartphones. This was reportedly revealed in a letter from top justice of the bloc.
EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders sent such a letter to Sophie in’t Veld, a European lawmaker on July 25. In it, he stated how Apple Inc informed him last year that his iPhone probably fell victim to hacking through Pegasus, which the Israeli surveillance company NSO Group sells to government bodies. This gave rise to them inspecting the commissioner’s devices, along with one that the employees were using.
Despite the investigation not yielding any ultimate evidences regarding the hacking of their devices, it revealed the ‘indicators of compromise.’ This is a term which security researchers used to explain the existence of evidence that a hack took place. Further, the letter specified how determining the main culprit is highly uncertain, and how the investigation was still underway.
A spokesperson from the firm stated how they were ready to comply with the investigation. It stated how though no such hack is yet proven, it considers misuse of its software a serious issue. Apple Inc is reportedly suing NSO Group for the violation of terms and services.
Lawmakers confirming the hack:
Though the commissioner did not respond at first, his confirmation came as he responded to the European lawmakers’ inquiries. Recently, it came with a committee for the investigation of the using of software for surveillance in the EU. A few days ago, the committee made the announcement that they have discovered 14 member states of the US having purchased NSO tech.
The letter from Reynders stated how Spanish, Polish and Hungarian officials had been or were either under questioning regarding the use of the tech. According to In’t Veld, it was necessary to discover as to who the EU Commission was being targeted by.
Further, the commission came up with the problem in front of authorities in Israeli, requesting them to act for the prevention of the misuse of these products in the continent. Notifications from Apple Inc from 2021 informed the targets how a tool called ‘ForcedEntry’ was possibly used against their iPhones for the installation of spyware. In a lawsuit, it stated this tool was developed by the NSO Group. Moreover, reports suggest how another such Israeli company, QuoDream contributed to development of such a tool.
