Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 24, 2025

German police secretly procured & USED controversial Israeli Pegasus smartphone spyware

German police secretly procured & USED controversial Israeli Pegasus smartphone spyware

German police bought and used controversial Pegasus spyware sold by the Israeli NSO group in 2019, it has been revealed. The program has allegedly been used for high-profile spying by multiple governments.
The explosive revelation was made by Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper on Tuesday and was later confirmed by AFP, citing parliament sources.

According to Die Zeit, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) opted to procure the highly-controversial software after domestic efforts to develop a home-grown program to monitor suspects’ phones flopped. The homegrown software, known only as ‘Trojan,’ has been in the works for years. While said to be functional in principle, it has never actually been used, the paper said.

Instead, the agency turned to outsourcing, getting in contact with the Israeli-based cyber-security company NSO Group, known for its Pegasus spyware. The firm maintains it works only with government entities worldwide.

First discovered back in August 2016, the program made headlines earlier this year after a collective of 17 media organizations reported that it had been used on over 50,000 high-profile targets by multiple governments. The target list included politicians, journalists and government officials from different countries, with the revelation sparking several international scandals.

Die Zeit said German authorities were in contact with the Pegasus developer since at least 2017, when a company delegation reportedly showcased the program to the BKA in Wiesbaden.

The software boasts significantly wider functionality and spying powers than potentially allowed under German laws. NSO Group is said to have developed a watered-down version of Pegasus specifically for the BKA.

The procurement process, kept secret, began back in 2019, with the BKA acquiring its version of Pegasus in 2020.

According to a separate report by Die Zeit, the BKA Vice President Martina Link also admitted to using the program, during closed-door hearings in the Bundestag interior committee on Tuesday. The BKA apparently told the committee that the program has been used in a “mid-single-digit number” of operations, some of them ongoing.

According to German laws, spying through smartphones and other electronic devices can be conducted only on individuals whose activities constitute an imminent danger, such as terrorism or organized crime. The matter is further complicated by a provision that even the dangerous suspects have a right to have a “core area of private life” protected.

While such restrictions made the original Pegasus – which gains full access to data, cameras and microphones on an infected smartphone – unfit for use in Germany, the watered-down BKA version circumvented the restrictions, with illegal data supposedly not collected. Still, the data is believed to go through the NSO Group’s servers before actually getting to the BKA. While the agency insisted the data goes only in “hashed” (in non-readable) form, legislators expressed concerns over the opacity of the process.

“This is an outsourcing of state powers of intervention, here an intervention in the area of fundamental rights is being outsourced,” digital policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Manuel Hoferlin, said as quoted by Die Zeit.

Contracting of the NSO effectively resembled “hiring a bounty hunter” and hoping they would “break into the homes of suspects” in a legal fashion, the official added.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Airlines Evaluate Flight Cancellations Amid Escalating US-Iran Tensions
Starmer Invites Innovators to Join Government Talent Scheme
UK Economy’s Strong Opening Quarter Shows Signs of Cooling
Harrods Seeks Court Order to Secure Al Fayed Estate for Victims
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
BBC Demands Perplexity AI Immediately Stop Using Its Content
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
Political Turmoil Resurfaces in Belgium Amid Economic Concerns
Fed policymakers divided on timing of interest rate cuts
Trump signals imminent agreement with Harvard University
Inheritance tax referendum alarms Swiss billionaire community
Japan cancels bilateral security meeting amid US defence demands
AI skeptic Emily Bender warns that ‘the emperor has no clothes’
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
×