Security Affairs reports Europe spyware victims face little accountability

What happened

According to Security Affairs, which summarises an investigation by IrpiMedia, victims of the Predator, Pegasus and Graphite spyware in Europe face years of legal battles and few answers. Security Affairs says IrpiMedia interviewed five victims. The claims below are the allegations of the people and bodies named in that report. This advisory has not independently verified them.

• Greece: Security Affairs reports that a court in Athens convicted four executives linked to Intellexa, the company behind Predator, on February 26, including founder Tal Dilian. The reported charges were illegally accessing computer systems, violating data protection rules and breaking telecommunications privacy laws, with sentences of up to eight years. According to the article, the sentences are suspended during appeal and investigators have not identified who ordered the surveillance. It describes this as the first conviction of its kind in Europe. It also says Greek authorities deny using Predator.
• Poland: Security Affairs reports that MEP Krzysztof Brejza says his phone was infected with Pegasus and that attackers accessed 85,000 messages. The article says a Polish parliamentary inquiry concluded in October 2026 that Pegasus had been purchased unlawfully and used against political opponents. It adds that Brejza has so far won only civil cases and that criminal investigations are ongoing.
• Hungary and Spain: According to the report, victims in both countries say authorities cite national security and have given them little or no information. Security Affairs says Citizen Lab found at least 65 people linked to the Catalan independence movement were infected, mostly between 2017 and 2020.
• Italy: Security Affairs reports that Citizen Lab found Italian phone numbers among those targeted by Paragon Solutions in 2025, and that three people were targeted with Graphite. The article says Italy’s parliamentary oversight body ruled all three cases lawful.
• EU response: According to the article, the European Parliament’s PEGA committee adopted recommendations on June 15, 2023, including a victims’ fund and an independent lab. Green MEP Saskia Bricmont says nothing has been done by the Commission or member states.

Security Affairs notes that NSO Group says it sells its products only to government intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

Am I affected?

Not confirmed. The source describes targeted surveillance of specific journalists, activists and politicians. It does not say how many devices were infected overall, which device versions were involved, or whether any current infection method remains unpatched. It names no CVE and gives no indicators of compromise. The only outlet carrying this story in our data is Security Affairs, so there is no second independent source.

What to do now

1. Read the Security Affairs summary below, and the IrpiMedia report it cites, to understand the policy and legal context.
2. Do not treat this as a new exploit or an active campaign: the source reports none, and no fixed version or patch is named.
3. If you support people at risk of targeted surveillance, note that the source offers no technical mitigations. Any hardening guidance would have to come from other, official sources that are not part of this advisory.
4. Watch for later reporting on the Athens appeal, the Polish criminal investigations and the Spanish case. The source describes all three as unresolved.

Sources

• Security Affairs: Predator, Pegasus and Graphite: Governments Accused of Spyware Abuse Face Little Accountability