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 military-grade 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.