Former lawmaker who was member of special committee on spyware is identified as target
Stelios Kouloglou, a former member of the European Parliament, was hacked with Pegasus spyware while serving on the special committee on spyware (PEGA), according to analysis conducted by academic researchers at The Citizen Lab.
Their analysis of Kouloglou’s phone found that the spyware was used throughout key moments of the PEGA committee’s work and would have captured confidential Parliamentary information.
The PEGA committee was established in 2022, the year after several media outlets had revealed that European governments were using Pegasus spyware to spy on journalists, activists and politicians. The spyware is sold by Israeli surveillance company NSO Group.
The Citizen Lab traced back and linked the timings of hacks of Kouloglou’s device with intense periods in the PEGA committee’s work, finding that the first hack took place on 21 October 2022, days before several committee hearings were due to start, and ahead of a first draft report being finalised.
