The phones of Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent and
two other pro-independence activists were targeted using spyware that
experts say is only sold to governments to track criminals and
terrorists, as revealed by The Guardian and El País.
According to the joint investigation, the spyware
exploited a vulnerability in Whatsapp software that would give potential
access to everything on the targeted mobile phone, from emails and text
messages to the camera and recorder—thus opening the possibility of
turning the phone into a spying device.
A member of the left-wing Esquerra (ERC) party and
one of the most senior politicians in Catalonia, Torrent believes Spain
is behind the attack and says he will take "legal and political action"
to make sure this case serves to put an end to the "dirty war against
the independence movement".
CBC: WhatsApp Attributes Hack of 1,400 Users to NSO Group Technology
Citizen Lab senior researcher John Scott-Railton discusses why WhatsApp is suing NSO Group after discovering their spyware was used to target 1,400 users—100 of whom were members of civil society—and why this is a significant bellwether.
