In the summer of 2022, Stelios Kouloglou, a Greek politician and member of the European Parliament’s PEGA Committee, investigated the misuse of intrusive spyware, including the notorious Pegasus. His work involved interviewing victims and examining high-profile hacking cases. However, unbeknownst to him, his own iPhone had been repeatedly compromised by Pegasus spyware, which was revealed by Citizen Lab’s forensic analysis published in early July 2026.
Kouloglou expressed his shock upon discovering that as someone tasked with investigating Pegasus, he had himself fallen victim to the very tool he was scrutinizing. He described the situation as reckless, noting that it was not just an invasion of privacy but posed serious implications for justice and democracy.
Pegasus, developed by the Israeli NSO Group, exploits vulnerabilities in mobile operating systems to conduct extensive surveillance, tapping into microphones, cameras, and accessing personal messages and data. The Citizen Lab report indicated that Kouloglou’s device had been targeted multiple times, raising concerns about potential breaches of EU parliamentary confidentiality. Experts worry that such targeting reveals a dire state of security for lawmakers in Europe.
While the report did not specify who might have been behind the attacks on Kouloglou, it noted overlaps with surveillance incidents affecting Russian- and Belarusian-speaking journalists and activists. This points to the broader issue of spyware misuse across Europe, underscored by the absurdity of a member of a committee investigating spyware abuses being spied on during their work.
The European Parliament has responded to this crisis by implementing a spyware screening system and proposing new protective measures. However, Kouloglou’s experiences spotlighted greater systemic inadequacies in protecting politicians and public figures from espionage. He uncovered that even during critical phases of committee hearings investigating spyware, his communications were likely monitored, emphasizing the stark need for thorough reforms and effective countermeasures against such intrusions.
The findings highlighted by Citizen Lab prompted a call to action among European lawmakers to ensure that the recommendations deemed necessary for safeguarding privacy and enhancing the integrity of parliamentary work are taken seriously and acted upon promptly. Despite the awareness of these issues, progress toward increasing protection against spyware remains disappointingly slow.
