Spyware use on separatists in Spain ‘extensive’, group says

A file photo of former deputy president of the Catalan regional government Oriol Junqueras (centre) walking with the current Catalonian president Pere Aragones, (2nd left) in front of an ‘estelada’ or Catalan pro-independence flag after being released from the Lledoners prison in Sant Joan de Vilatorrada near Barcelona, Spain, on June 23, 2021. The phones of dozens of pro-independence supporters in Spain's northeastern Catalonia, including the regional chief and other elected officials, were hacked with controversial spyware available only to governments, a cybersecurity rights nonprofit said on April 18, 2022. — AP

MADRID: The phones of dozens of pro-independence supporters in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia, including the regional chief and other elected officials, were hacked with controversial spyware available only to governments, a cybersecurity rights group said on April 18.

Citizen Lab, a research group affiliated with the University of Toronto, said a large-scale investigation it had conducted in collaboration with Catalan civil society groups found that at least 65 individuals were targeted or their devices infected with what it calls “mercenary spyware” sold by two Israeli companies, NSO Group and Candiru.