Espionage software is also booming in the middle of Europe

The victims of spyware include not only opposition members and opponents of regimes in despotic states, but also lawyers, journalists and even EU politicians.

Dubious companies make huge profits with questionable software. Surveillance is big business, but very dangerous for the victims. Even in the middle of Europe, politicians are affected by illegal spying.

Better safe than sorry. Egyptian authorities seem to have followed this motto when spying on an opposition leader. Government authorities installed two different versions of spyware on his phone. Since there were two different authorities, the suspicion is that one did not know about the other's action. The whole thing probably only came out because the smartphone suddenly ran hot for apparently inexplicable reasons. After technicians also failed to find a cause for this, a corresponding suspicion came into the opposition leader's mind. He turned to the researchers at Citizenlabs, who are already famous for the discovery of surveillance software. And indeed, they found what they were looking for on the opposition leader's phone. In addition to the well-known Pegasus software from the Israeli NSO Group, they also discovered a new representative of this questionable software genre on the same device: Predator from the Cytrox company. Obviously, the two programmes do not get along.

Listening to a room with the telephone

Surveillance software is secretly installed on the phones of those affected and allows the attacker complete access to all messages and emails as well as other media. In addition, the microphone and camera can be turned on unnoticed, allowing not only phone calls to be tapped, but also entire rooms to be monitored.

However, not much is known about Predator's manufacturing company. According to research by the Canadian research organisation Citizenlab, the company Cytrox is part of Intellexa, a consortium of companies specialising in surveillance software. This nebulous company describes itself on its website only as "an EU-based and regulated company with six locations and R&D labs across Europe". According to Citizenlab's assessment, the suspicion is that this is a disguised corporate construct to circumvent legal regulations and export restrictions.

This spyware has also recently caused a stir in Greece. Traces of the spyware Predator were found on devices belonging to Nikos Androulakis, MEP and leader of the Greek Social Democratic Party PASOK. Other opposition politicians are also said to be affected. EU takes action - Committee of Enquiry into espionage activities.

The spyware attracted attention through a special service for EU parliamentarians. They can have their smartphones and laptops checked for installed spyware. Androulakis had also made use of this EU service. "The mobile phones of 250 MEPs and dozens of their colleagues were checked. No trace of 'Predator' was found on any of them, except mine," he told journalists.

In spring this year, the EU Parliament set up a committee of enquiry into the use of Pegasus and other surveillance software in the member states. The reason for this was the spying activities with Pegasus against opposition politicians in Poland. But in the meantime, traces of surveillance software have even been found on the phones of several EU employees, including Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders and other EU officials. After the apparently widespread Pegasus spyware was also discovered on Thai opposition figures and activists, the CEO of the Israeli spy software manufacturer NSO, Shalev Hulio, resigned.

But European companies are also getting involved in this market segment. Microsoft recently warned about the activities of an Austrian company. The growing number of questionable manufacturers gives experts reason to fear that spyware could also be used for industrial espionage.

Author: Uwe Sievers