The Spanish government is not in possession of any information about alleged spyware installed on Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent's cellphone and calls upon the parties concerned to go to court, spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said on Tuesday
MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2020) The Spanish government is not in possession of any information about alleged spyware installed on Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent's cellphone and calls upon the parties concerned to go to court, spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said on Tuesday.
On Monday, newspapers El Pais and The Guardian released findings of a joint investigation that found that last year Torrent and at least another two Catalan pro-independence politicians had their phones infiltrated by a spyware that tracked their communications. The Catalan parliament speaker accused the Spanish government of being behind the attack.
"The government is not aware about that the Catalan parliament's cell phone was subjected to a hacking attack. Situations like this require that judicial authorities be informed in order for them to conduct an investigation to determine what happened and under what circumstances. Any interference with a cell phone requires prior judicial authorization," Montero said at a press conference in Madrid.
The Pegasus malicious spying program was developed in Israel. Makers claim they sell it to governments only to spy on terrorists and criminals.
According to the journalistic investigation, in the period from April-May last year, the Pegasus spyware could have been used to hack phones of hundreds of people worldwide via a previously existing bug in software of the WhatsApp messenger, belonging to Facebook.
The spyware is capable of providing access to virtually everything on the target phone, including texts, emails and photos. Additionally, it can turn on the camera and the recorder unnoticed, turning the phone into a listening device.
