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A Polish opposition politician who is being targeted by NSO spy software, says a cyber expert

A mobile phone of an opposition politician in Poland was hijacked by military spy software as they campaigned against the ruling party, according to an online security monitoring group.

Krzysztof Brejza’s phone was hacked 33 times between April and October 2019 before a parliamentary election, using the Pegasus program developed by the Israel NSO Group, according to the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.

The stolen information on Brejza’s phone was later changed to state-run television before the October parliamentary election, which was won by the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), according to the Associated Press, which first announced the case.

The news has provoked outrage among Polish protesters. Tomasz Grodzki, a spokesman for the Polish Senate, and Brejza, a member of the main opposition group, the Civic Platform, said the revelations were “shameful and unacceptable”.

“I would like an urgent statement from the Prime Minister and the leadership of the security services,” he wrote on Twitter. “I will not leave Senator Brejza alone in a dispute with the dictatorial regime.”

John Scott-Railton, co-founder of the Citizen Lab, wrote on Twitter that the case would be “a test of whether the European Union / European Commission can deal with what appears to be a violation of fair elections and democratic values ​​in Poland.”

Brejza said in an interview with Polsat News that the alleged fraud could affect the outcome of the election. “I’m not saying PiS would not win the election,” he said. “But of course, the observation continues [his phone] took half or 1 percent from the Civic Coalition, and touched on the fact that PiS now has [lower house] many. ”

The revelations come amid growing concerns about the rule of law in Poland, as PiS challenged judges to control politics and cut back on public television since taking office in 2015.

This week, the Associated Press reported that Roman Giertych, a lawyer representing various dissenters, and Ewa Wrzosek, a state attorney who has been vocal in opposing PiS court reforms, were also kidnapped using Pegasus. Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland’s prime minister, said Wednesday that it was necessary to investigate whether the allegations were “true”, adding that it was easy to fabricate “false stories”.

Stanislaw Zaryn, a spokeswoman for Poland’s defense minister, said on Friday that “the idea that Polish security forces use tactics for political purposes and falsehoods”.

He further added that security agencies have not yet commented on individual cases, but said that “performance appraisal” has been used in “appropriate” cases and after receiving a court order.

A spokesman for the NSO Group said it had submitted its applications to intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies in the process of testing and issuing permits by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, adding that the NSO did not use the technology and did not know what was collected.

“The company does not know and may not know what its customers want, but it does use the technology to ensure that the machines are used on an exclusive basis.


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