THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A cybersecurity rights group says 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. Citizen Lab, a research group affiliated with the University of Toronto, said its large-scale investigation found that at least 65 individuals were targeted or infected with what it calls “mercenary spyware” sold by two Israeli companies. Catalonia’s efforts to separate from Spain have produced the country’s deepest political crisis in decades. Citizen Lab said it could not find conclusive evidence to attribute the hacking to a specific entity but said circumstantial evidence points to some ties to Spanish authorities.
