AP Exclusive: Polish opposition senator hacked with spyware

By VANESSA GERA and FRANK BAJAK
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Security researchers say they’ve confirmed that a third Polish opposition figure had his phone hacked with sophisticated spyware from Israeli company NSO Group. The senator was hacked nearly three dozen times using NSO’s Pegasus spyware when he was running the opposition’s campaign against the right-wing populist government in 2019 parliamentary elections. He says he believes the hacking revelations call into question whether that election was fair. A Polish government spokesman would neither confirm nor deny ordering the hacks or say whether it’s an NSO client. A company spokesperson said Pegasus is only supposed to be used against terrorists and criminals. NSO says it’s terminated contracts with governments that abuse those terms.