The CatalanGate case in Spain, in which Spanish intelligence is accused of illegally spying on Catalan politicians, using NSO tools, began with fanfare. However, after the dismissal of the head of the Spanish intelligence service as a political victim, on the altar of the Spanish coalition, it seems that the fate of the investigation is shrouded in fog.
According to a report by elconfidencial, the investigation of the suspicions regarding the use of NSO’s tool in Spain will probably end in nothing. “The Pegasus Commission of the European Parliament will not investigate Spain for spying on leaders,” the publication said. “In fact, it makes sense, as there is no evidence of illegal espionage and the Spanish government has admitted that only 18 operatives were subject to legal surveillance.”
In a release from last May, the head of the CNI, Spain’s intelligence agency (the one that was fired), said that all 18 were subject to surveillance based on legal warrants. This, in contrast to the publications of Citizen Labs, the body that published the study and leads the claims against NSO in the world. According to him, about 65 Spanish leaders were followed by the system.
In a citizenlab publication from April of this year, under the title “Catalangate” (the surveillance claims were after Catalan leaders), named after the organization’s claims of surveillance of Catalan leaders in Spain, it was stated that dozens of Spanish leaders were illegally monitored by the system. As mentioned, 65 leaders were determined by the organization. “At least 63 were targeted or infected in Pegasus, and four others in Kendiro. At least two were targeted or infected with both,” the organization wrote.
I will mention that the use of tools by Kendiro, NSO or any other company in the offensive cyber field, are legal for use under the legal control of the purchasing country and after receiving export permits from the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
The Pegasus Commission, on the other hand, will investigate other countries. Its representatives arrived in Israel in recent days to meet, among other things, with the management of the NSO group. According to estimates, the meeting ended with a courtesy visit. The committee came to Israel more to voice than to be heard. The committee is also expected to visit Hungary, Poland and the USA.
“”The NSO group is not the only supplier, but certainly one of the largest. It sold spyware to fourteen governments in the European Union, using export licenses issued by the Israeli government. This visit gave us new insights, including the ineffectiveness of safeguards against abuse, and it reinforced our belief that the European Union needs much stricter regulation of the sale, purchase and use of such spyware,” the commission’s statement of the Israel visit concluded. “It is too early. draw any conclusions.’
The European Commission’s visit to the US, if indeed it takes place, will come after Biden’s visit to the country. Following this, there were reports in Israel that the Americans are conducting negotiations with the Israeli Ministry of Defense to remove the two Israeli companies from the sanctions list of the US Department of Commerce. It is not yet clear how, if at all, the European Commission’s visit will affect the US Department of Commerce.
The spokesman for the European Commission stated that what is known as “Catalangate” is an internal matter for Spain and that maintaining national security “remains the sole responsibility of each country”. The affair in Spain is starting to remind us of the Pegasus affair here in Israel. After months of investigation, the investigation turned up a pot. No police officers in Israel were found to have broken the law by using the system.
In light of the gap between the reports in the media and the findings on the ground, a number of professors contacted the University of Toronto, under which the organization Citizen Labs operates, with claims regarding the quality of the research carried out by the organization in Spain. “A variety of apparent conflicts of interest (political and economic), which include the authors of the report and the people cooperating in his field work, remain unanswered,” the letter reads.
“The findings reported in this non-peer-reviewed study cannot be replicated and the authors refuse to provide samples that would allow for any serious independent verification.
“Contrary to what the literature on forensic analysis (and normal scientific procedures) suggests, Prof. Diebert claims 100% reliability of their analytical processes and refuses to consider the possibility of false positives or other errors. However, several sources explain how to produce false positives.
“There is a very unusual lack of transparency when it comes to methodology. The authors refuse to report when, where and by whom the digital forensics were performed. The authors refuse to report the number of devices studied or the ratio between the positive results and the number of devices. There were no control groups.
“The report does not address any of the other plausible alternative hypotheses. It is surprising how the possibility of legal surveillance, false positives or espionage by the secret services of Russia, Morocco or Western countries is not even mentioned.”
“The fieldwork was coordinated by a pro-independence activist, Mr. Ellis Campo, and apparently a victim of espionage, without any prior research experience or a higher education degree. This author also made false claims about his employment status and was not affiliated with Citizen Lab for most of the investigation period.
These are some of the claims made in the letter.
In the meantime, Spain is conducting an independent investigation and, according to a Reuters report, even sent representatives to Israel to question the CEO of NSO.