Former French Defense Minister's Phone Large-Scale Tapped by Pegasus Software

Former French Defense Minister Florence Parly has become one of the victims of the Pegasus malware during her tenure, Mediapart reported on Tuesday.

"Florence Parly has become the fifth minister targeted by malicious actors," French authorities confirmed. Among other ministers affected are Jean-Michel Blanquer (former Minister of Education, 2017-2022), former Territorial Development Minister Jacqueline Gourault (2018-2022), housing delegate Emmanuel Vargon, who currently heads the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), and French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu," the media outlet reported.

The traces of the discovered malware do not allow the identification of the country responsible for this attack. In total, 23 individuals in France have fallen victim to malicious spying programs, including former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe and French President Emmanuel Macron. In addition to politicians, journalists and civil society workers have also fallen prey to the spying software.

A criminal and administrative investigation is underway in France regarding this matter. The Pegasus spying software scandal erupted in 2021. Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International managed to obtain a list of 50,000 phone numbers selected by NSO's clients since 2016, which could potentially be targets of surveillance.

According to media reports, the Pegasus software, developed by the Israeli NSO Group, has been used by intelligence agencies of various countries to track not only criminals and terrorists but also to spy on politicians, businessmen, activists, journalists, and opposition figures worldwide.