Spyware from Israeli tech company NSO Group has been implicated in the hack of a leading opposition politician in Poland and several others, according to University of Toronto nonprofit Citizen Lab.
In partnership with the Associated Press, Citizen Lab revealed on Thursday that Polish Senator Krzysztof Brejza was hacked using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware 33 times between April 26, 2019 and October 23, 2019.
Brejza helped run the opposition campaign against the right-wing government of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki that is currently in power. Doctored photos from Brejza’s smartphone falsely implicated him in several scandals and were shared by government-backed news outlets. Morawiecki eventually won the election by a razor-thin margin.
Brejza, who has gained popularity as a hardliner against corruption, was horrified to learn of the hack. Access to his phone would provide anyone with information about his campaign strategy as well as the corruption whistleblowers who put their trust in him.