An investigative commission into the Pegasus case has been launched. We explain what this famous scandal is about

The Pegasus commission of inquiry is to determine “how, with what money, and by whose decisions the Pegasus program was purchased.” Krzysztof Śmiszek believes that the committee should hear, among others: Zbigniew Ziobro or Jaros³aw Kaczyñski. – Nothing that happened in the PiS state, especially of such caliber, (…) could have happened, in my opinion, without the knowledge of Jarosław Kaczyński – he explained.

What is the Pegasus scandal about?

Pegasus is advanced spy software created by the Israeli company NSO Group Technologies, which was founded in 2010 by former members of the Israel Intelligence Corps. In theory, the software works similarly to many amateur malware used to steal information from phones or computers. However, Pegasus is definitely more effective – it has almost unlimited possibilities, is able to break the best security features built into smartphones and is very difficult to detect.

In December 2021, the Associated Press revealed that Pegasus was used, among others, for surveillance of attorney Roman Giertych, who represented leading opposition politicians. The software was also intended to be used to spy on prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek, who opposed the purges in the Polish justice system, the head of Agrounia Michał Kołodziejczak, journalist Tomasz Szwejgiert and opposition politician Krzysztof Brejza – previously the head of the Civic Coalition’s electoral staff. His phone was attacked with Pegasus 33 times. The media described that . In total, the system was infected with approximately 500 devices over two years.

Pegasus was also supposed to be used to track people from the camp of the then government. In the first week of February, Gazeta.pl revealed that PiS has a list of politicians from this party who were allegedly under surveillance by the secret services while they were supervised by Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik. It includes, among others: Ryszard Terlecki, Marek Suski, Krzysztof Sobolewski, Ryszard Czarnecki, Adam Bielan, Marek Kuchciński. “We do not have the tools to verify with certainty whether the CBA wiretapped PiS politicians and hacked their phones with the Pegasus system. However, we are certain that this list and the fear that it may be authentic are sowing confusion in the ranks of the United Right,” Jacek Gądek emphasized. . – If it explodes, it may start to destroy PiS from the inside – said one of the journalist’s interlocutors from Gazeta.pl. Especially since even Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was allegedly under surveillance. , a KO politician who, as we mentioned, was also bugged with the help of Pegasus.

How does Pegasus work?

You can download Pegasus to your smartphone in many ways. The most classic method is to take over the device for some time and return it with spy software loaded, so that the owner of the phone won’t notice anything. Pegasus can also be uploaded by sending a message with a link, an e-mail with a forged document or a push notification to the victim’s phone. Clicking on a crafted link, file or notification may result in the phone being infected and then accessed by services using Pegasus. This is classic phishing, which until 2016 was the only way to install spyware on your phone. However, this method is sometimes unreliable because it requires interaction from the potential victim. Newer versions of Pegasus now allow you to upload a spy without the victim’s participation.

An example method reported in the media is sending a notification invisible to the recipient. Before 2019, Pegasus also used a vulnerability in the WhatsApp messenger, which allowed for “entering the device” by making a call (so that it was not answered) and then deleting the missed call notification from the phone. In July 2021, it was revealed that Pegasus could also get into the latest iPhones through a vulnerability in the iMessage app. There are probably more methods, but not all of them are known. NSO Group is also still looking for more and more sophisticated ways of uploading Pegasus.

Pegasus looks for vulnerabilities in the victim’s phone software and tries to gain access to all possible modules and data of the smartphone. It does this “quietly” so that the person being tracked does not find out about this fact. Pegasus certainly works on devices with iOS and Android operating systems, although there are many indications that it can or could also spy on Symbian (Nokia) phones and BlackBerry devices. What’s more, it also works with smartphones that have the latest security patches installed.

Pegasus gives you access to all information stored in the device’s memory (photos, videos, call history, SMS, etc.) and phone status. It also allows you to turn on the microphone or camera at any time, eavesdrop on a conversation, track the location or transmit live image and sound 24 hours a day.

In addition, this happens without any information that could arouse the suspicion of the phone owner (maybe apart from slightly faster energy consumption) or even the telecommunications company whose client is the victim. This is one of the main “advantages” of Pegasus – it allows you to steal very valuable information and eavesdrop on even very technologically aware citizens, so that this fact does not come to light long after the attack (or at all).

Detecting Pegasus is an impossible task for the average smartphone user. However, this can be done by specialists from private companies – for example Apple (the manufacturer of iPhones) – and notify their client about it. This is how the hacking of prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek’s phone was revealed. Traces of attacks are also detected by, for example, Citizen Lab, a special research unit of the University of Toronto, after the phone is submitted for examination. This is how the attacks on Roman Giertych and Krzysztof Brejza were supposed to come to light.

A commission of inquiry into Pegasus has been launched

The deputy minister of justice said that he expected the commission to “explain (…) what the PiS state has looked like over the last 8 years.” – In my opinion, the PiS state was a state of eavesdropping, a state of surveillance, a state of looking behind the curtains, under the covers, into the alcove of citizens and people from the opposition, because this was the philosophy of this system, the philosophy of the Law and Justice state – he said.

However, the president of Law and Justice in 2022 said that the establishment of a parliamentary investigative commission in this matter would serve “black propaganda”. – There is no doubt that if there were abuses involving wiretapping, they did not happen in our times – he assured. Law and Justice politicians demanded that the commission’s investigation be extended also to the period of rule of the PO-PSL coalition. PiS MP Marek Ast pointed, among other things, to cases where operational and reconnaissance activities were carried out against several dozen journalists at that time. However, the Legislative Committee rejected this amendment.

An audit is underway in the secret services, one of the goals of which is the issue of the use of Pegasus spy software on politicians of the current opposition. Tomasz Siemoniak, Minister-Coordinator of Special Services, said on Radio One that after the audit is completed, the government will make the results public. – I consider it one of the biggest scandals in Polish politics after 1990 – he added.