London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 08, 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

0:00
0:00
Close
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
Matt Taibbi Slams Media for Role in Russiagate Narrative
Pilots Call for Mental Health Support Without Stigma
All Five Trapped Miners Found Dead After El Teniente Mine Collapse
Ong Beng Seng Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Linked to Former Singapore Transport Minister
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
Italy Fines Shein One Million Euros for Misleading Sustainability Claims
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
Declassified Annex Links Soros‑Affiliated Officials and Clinton Campaign to ‘Russiagate’ Narrative
×