EU LAWMAKERS TO GET MOBILE PHONES ‘URGENTLY’ CHECKED ON SPYWARE FEARS

Sat 24 February 2024:

Members of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defence have been asked to have their mobile phones checked for spyware in an internal email from the parliament’s IT department seen by dpa.

Traces found in two devices require “special attention,” the European Parliament said on Wednesday.

Members and staff of the subcommittee are urgently recommended to have their mobile phones checked for possible spyware installations, according to the internal email from the IT department.

One of the mobile phones affected belongs to a member of the European Parliament.

The subcommittee in question includes several German MEPs, namely Özlem Demirel, Maximilian Krah and Hannah Neumann. “Armament and war are times in which liberal democracy and civil liberties are being jeopardised,” said Demirel.

In times like these, espionage from all sides is also on the rise, with emails apparently being hacked and phones tapped, she said, adding that she wants to have her phone checked.

Green Party lawmaker Hannah Neumann said she was not surprised. “Even if final confirmation is still pending in this case, the use of spyware is increasingly becoming a security risk in Europe,” she said.

She said she regularly checks her phone and did so again after the incident but that unfortunately, not all of her colleagues are similarly aware.

-DPA

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