Political elites in Europe are nervous, over 50 spied on by the National Intelligence Center (CNI), including pro-independence politicians and senior judiciary officials, Spanish President Pedro Sánchez is now joining, and the one of his ministers, Margarita Robles.
Hackers stole at least 2.6 GB of data from Pedro Sánchez’s iPhone, in the year 2021, although the sensitivity of the stolen data is unknown. A hard setback for the entities in charge of digital security of the Spanish government, and even for Apple as the manufacturer of the devices.
What data was stolen from Pedro Sánchez’s iPhone?
According to official Spanish government sources, the president’s iPhone has been infected with the notorious Pegasus spy program, and in 2021, he suffered the theft of 2.6 GB of information, including around 15,000 documents and around 1,000 photographs. In a second attempt in the same year 2021, the President of Europe was again robbed, this time only 130 MB of data was charged, probably because the government teams in charge of the government digital security already knew the facts and Mr. Pedro Sánchez proceeded to give more consistent use, in line with his position, to his iPhone.
Most worrying is the fact that around 15,000 documents were stolen, since the iPhone only classifies as such those produced using word processors or in PDF format. Everything indicates that the main source of the data is the instant messaging application WhatsApp, although official government sources do not rule out that contacts or text messages have also been leaked.
The fact that suggests WhatsApp has been the main data source is that Defense Minister Margarita Robles does not use the popular Facebook-owned instant messaging app, and therefore, in his case, they only managed to subtract 9 MB of data, an amount significantly lower than that of the president.
How did they hack the Spanish president?
Pegasus is the spyware responsible for this data leak or hack whose last victim was the president. Launched in 2016 by NSO Group, an Israeli company the gold is made from the sale and availability of this software, it was (in theory) only available to governments.
Secrecy hangs over Pegasus, its user interface and details of its attack mechanisms are unknown, however, according to NSO Group, Pegasus only needs a phone number and will be responsible for carrying out attacks in permanently, taking advantage not only of the vulnerabilities of the operating systems available on the market, indiscriminately attacking iOS or Android, but also It also focuses on the possible doors opened by the different applications installed on the smartphone, such as WhatsApp.
The most common way to enter Pegasus on mobile devices is precisely to enjoy different SMS with the pattern Phishingwhile iMessage and WhatsApp also suffer from numerous vulnerabilities.
In the case of WhatsApp, for example, the spyware enters the device via a call through the application, in fact, it is not even necessary for the user to pick up the call, which is a real outrage in terms of security and privacy.
Pegasus is enjoying its constant evolution and growth. Once the device is infected, the attackers take remote control of the terminals and obtain all the necessary information, indeed they can even record and filter telephone calls, as happened to Jeff Bezzos, the richest man in the world and owner of Amazon.
According to NSO Group, this tool is only available to governments, despite this, official sources indicate that the infection suffered by Pedro Sánchez is due to an external agent.
We make our tool available to governments to prevent terrorist attacks, dismantle pedophile, sex and drug trafficking networks, locate missing and kidnapped children, locate survivors trapped under collapsed buildings and protect the airspace against the disruptive penetration of dangerous drones
However, there are 63 and the different personalities between politicians and judges spied with Pegasus in Europe during the year 2021.
Is the iPhone safer against Pegasus?
As you well know, the Spanish government decides to constantly renew its range of technological devices and members of the Congress of Deputies all use iPhone, iPad and Mac courtesy of all contributors.
Although this news was popularized especially by the involvement of an iPhone, the reality is that the iPhone is no more secure than the rest of the devices in terms of Pegasus, This is not the case for the rest of the external agents, who find a plus of security in the iPhone compared to Android. Meanwhile, Pegasus uses various access methods such as phishing, unverified WiFi networks or WhatsApp vulnerabilities, which Apple cannot combat through its own operating system.
The same Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, was targeted by Pegasus spyware in the year 2017 through his personal phone, another iPhone. More controversial were the cases of Cecilio Pineda and Jamal Khashoggi, journalists whose devices were infected with Pegasus and later died in mysterious circumstances.
Ordinary citizens do not take the security of our mobile devices seriously enough, it is a proof, however, it is to be hoped that the senior officials and representative entities of our country will do a little more effort to protect their privacy. given the sensitivity of the information they handle. However, that doesn’t seem to be happening, and gaining access to Pedro Sánchez or Jeff Bezos’ phone is no more difficult than hacking into your neighbor Paco’s iPhone.
I have only real curiosity about the Pedro Sánchez hack… What will be the president’s favorite stickers on WhatsApp?
