CatalanGate

Last updated

CatalanGate is a 2022 political scandal involving accusations of espionage using the NSO Group's Pegasus spyware, against figures of the Catalan independence movement. Targets of the supposed espionage included elected officials (including the four presidents of the Generalitat of Catalonia since 2010, two presidents of the Parliament of Catalonia, and MEPs), activists, lawyers, and computer scientists; in some cases, families of the main targets were also purportedly targeted. [1]

Contents

The scandal was unleashed by the publication of an article [2] in the New Yorker magazine, quoting studies by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, in which they examined the use of Pegasus spyware by different countries (Pegasus is only sold to governments who, according to Israel's own government, follow rule of law), and alleged to have found evidence of its deployment and use by Spain's National Intelligence Centre (CNI), to track phones owned by several Catalan politicians and other officials, and their entourage, including at times family members. [3]

The Citizen Lab report was published on April 18, 2022. The report identified up to 65 alleged victims, consummated or attempted. The number of targets exceeded previous cases of espionage studied by Citizen Lab, far surpassing those of Al Jazeera (36 victims) and El Salvador (35 victims). [4] [5] Citizen Lab did not definitively attribute the responsibility for the attacks to a particular perpetrator, however, it went on to state that circumstantial evidence strongly suggests the perpetrator to be the Spanish Government. [6] The term CatalanGate was used as title of the Citizen Lab report. [6] Despite the scandal's dissemination as CatalanGate, it also allegedly affected two prominent Basque pro-independence figures. [1]

Background

Citizen Lab is a Canadian interdisciplinary laboratory, based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, which focuses on research, development, strategic policy and high-level legal engagement at the confluence of information and communication technologies, human rights and global security. [7] [8]

In April 2019, Citizen Lab worked on a case involving Pegasus infections that exploited a WhatsApp security bug that enabled infiltration of at least 1,400 terminals. Among the people alerted to the problem was the President of the Catalan Parliament, Roger Torrent. [9] [10] Among the politicians affected by the breach were Ernest Maragall, Anna Gabriel, and Basque leaders like Arnaldo Otegi and Jon Iñarritu. [11] [12]

MEP Jordi Solé started an investigation in June 2020, when he suspected that he was a victim of cell phone spying and contacted the security researcher Elies Campo, a former WhatsApp employee and collaborator of Citizen Lab. [13] [14] [15]

Most of the Catalan officials affected by the surveillance belong to the Catalonia pro-independence parties. [16]

Scandal

Collaboration between potential victims and Citizen Lab helped identify at least 65 people supposedly attacked or infected with the spyware, 63 of them with Pegasus and 4 with Candiru (two victims were targeted using both). The actual figure could be higher as Citizen Lab's tools are developed for use with iOS systems and, in Spain, Android devices predominate (80% of the total in 2021). A selection of the cases was also analyzed by Amnesty International's Tech Lab, and the results independently validated the forensic methodology used. Virtually all incidents correspond to the period between 2017 and 2020 (although Jordi Sànchez suffered an attempted infection via SMS in 2015). [6]

In its report, Citizen Lab states that "while we do not attribute the operation to a specific government entity at this time, the circumstantial evidence shows a strong link to the Spanish government, especially given the nature of the individuals targeted, the timing of the attacks, and the fact that Spain is listed as a client of NSO Group". [6]

Once the scandal reached Spanish parliament, government officials produced documentation to certify that 29 people were indeed subject to government surveillance, fully approved by the Supreme Court of Justice and according to legal procedure. [17] The surveilled people included past and serving elected officials and regional authorities belonging to parties involved in the 2017 Catalan Independence referendum.

Methods of infiltration

In some cases (and as is often the case), the attack was carried out by an intermediary: infecting, or attempting to infect, the terminal of family members or people close to the target to be spied on. [6]

Pegasus

A peculiarity of this case for Citizen Lab was the discovery of a new iOS zero-click vulnerability, which they called HOMAGE, that had not previously been seen used by NSO Group, and which was effective against some versions prior to 13.2.[ citation needed ]

Candiru

Citizen Lab identified four victims of espionage involving Candiru. Candiru spyware was used to infiltrate the targets' personal computers. The targets were sent emails containing malicious links and enticed to click on them, with their personal computers becoming infected with Candiru spyware once they clicked on the link. A total of seven such emails were identified. Some of the emails appeared to be messages from a Spanish governmental institution with public health recommendations in connection to the 2019 coronavirus epidemic. [18]

List of victims

With the exception of four people who requested anonymity, this is the list of victims of the CatalanGate espionage case: [19]

Reactions

Press coverage

On the same day that saw the publication of CitizenLab's technical report, The New Yorker published an extensive report entitled "How democracies spy on their citizens" (of which the Catalan case occupied a seventh part) as their cover story. [20]

Catalan government response

On April 19 (one day after the initial publication of the revelations), Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junqueras appeared in the European Parliament to denounce the spying perpetrated upon the pro-independence leaders, an intervention that was joined by the Popular Unity Candidacy, the Catalan National Assembly, and Òmnium Cultural. John-Scott Railton, from Citizen Lab, also took part, detailing "circumstantial evidence": that agencies linked to the structure of the Spanish State would have used Pegasus and Candiru to infiltrate the cell phones of the victims for political purposes. [21] The previous March, the European Parliament had approved the creation of a committee of inquiry called Committee to investigate the use of Pegasus surveillance spyware on the alleged use of Pegasus surveillance spyware against journalists, politicians, security agents, diplomats, lawyers, businessmen, civil society actors and other citizens in, among other countries, Hungary and Poland, and whether such use had infringed European Union law and fundamental rights. The first meeting of the committee was held the same day that Puigdemont and Junqueras denounced the spying. [22] [23]

Criticism

Spanish general media argued that study completely overlooked the publicly-known fact that many of those politicians had been involved in (and in some instances found guilty of) several crimes and misdemeanors, from embezzlement to sedition, and were in fact under judicially-approved government surveillance, under Spanish law. [24] [25] [26] Regarding the naming of the scandal, the domain catalangate.cat was registered by Òmnium Cultural on 28 January 2022 - months before the scandal came to light. The name itself was coined by targeted politician Ernest Maragall.

On the other hand, despite the fact that third partied checked methodologies, some alleged deficiencies in the research methodology where denounced, including the fact that one of the main researcher was a Catalan developer affected by the surveillance. [27] [28] The right wing teachers collective like "Foro de Profesores" collective denounced that the whole scandal was essentially a publicity stunt. [29] [30] [31] to discredit the Spanish government's investigations into past and continuing criminal activity by the surveilled people, and to cover earlier surveillance by the regional secessionist government of opposition politicians. [32]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Convergence of Catalonia</span> Political party in Spain

The Democratic Convergence of Catalonia, frequently shortened as Convergence was a Catalan nationalist, liberal political party in Catalonia (Spain), currently still existing without any political activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Executive Council of Catalonia</span> Government body in Spain

The Executive Council of Catalonia or the Executive Government of Catalonia is the executive branch of the Generalitat of Catalonia and its main collective decision-making body. It is responsible for the political action, regulation, and administration of the government of the autonomous region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catalan independence movement</span> Catalan independence movement in Spain

The Catalan independence movement is a social and political movement which seeks the independence of Catalonia from Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oriol Junqueras</span> Politician and historian from Catalonia, Spain (born 1969)

Oriol Junqueras i Vies is a Catalan politician and historian. A former mayor of the municipality of Sant Vicenç dels Horts in Catalonia, Junqueras served as Vice President of Catalonia from January 2016 to October 2017, when he was removed from office following the Catalan declaration of independence and entered prison until June 2021 for his role in organizing the 2017 Catalan independence referendum. He is president of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC). Born in 1969 in Barcelona, Junqueras grew up in the municipality of Sant Vicenç dels Horts. After graduating from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, he taught history at the university.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junts pel Sí</span> Political party in Spain

Junts pel Sí was a Catalan electoral, political and parliamentary alliance focused on achieving the independence of Catalonia from Spain. Established ahead of the 2015 Catalan regional election, it was formed by Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), Democrats of Catalonia (DC), Left Movement (MES) and Independence Rally (RI.cat), as well as a number of independent personalities from pro-independence sectors of civil society, including the pro-independence organizations Catalan National Assembly, Òmnium and the Association of Municipalities for Independence. The Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) had been invited to participate in the alliance, but refused to do so and ran on its own instead, citing its disagreement with the presence of politicians in the list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Catalan regional election</span> Regional election in Catalonia

The 2017 Catalan regional election was held on Thursday 21 December 2017 to elect the 12th Parliament of the autonomous community of Catalonia. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was called by Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy after the invocation of Article 155 of the 1978 Spanish Constitution to enforce direct rule in Catalonia and the subsequent dismissal of the Catalan government under President Carles Puigdemont. The three pro-Catalan independence parties won a slim majority of parliamentary seats, claiming 70 out of 135, but fell short of a majority in the popular vote by securing 47.6% of the share.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antoni Comín</span> Spanish politician

Antoni "Toni" Comín i Oliveres is a Catalan intellectual and politician from Spain. He is currently the executive vice-president of the Council for the Republic and has been an MEP since July 2019. He is the fourth child of the politician and intellectual Alfonso Carlos Comín i Ros and Maria Lluïsa Oliveres i Sanvicens, whose other children are Maria, Pere and Betona. He is the partner of the stage designer Sergi Corbera, and they have a daughter called Laia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clara Ponsatí</span> Spanish economist

Clara Ponsatí i Obiols is a Catalan economist and politician. She was appointed Minister of Education of the Government of Catalonia by President Carles Puigdemont on 14 July 2017, and was dismissed by the Spanish Government pursuant to Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution on 27 October 2017, due to the organisation of the 2017 Catalan independence referendum and the subsequent declaration of independence. On 30 October 2017, she went into exile in Brussels together with Carles Puigdemont and three other members of his government, Lluís Puig, Antoni Comín and Meritxell Serret. In May 2018, she returned to the University of St Andrews (Scotland) as a professor. In the 2019 Spanish municipal elections, she was placed last on the list of the candidacy Barcelona és capital - Primàries, led by Jordi Graupera. Since February 2020, she is a Member of the European Parliament within the Junts i Lliures per Europa grouping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017–2018 Spanish constitutional crisis</span> Political conflict over Catalan independence

A constitutional crisis took place in Spain from 2017 to 2018 as the result of a political conflict between the Government of Spain and the Generalitat de Catalunya under the then-President Carles Puigdemont —the government of the autonomous community of Catalonia until 28 October 2017— over the issue of Catalan independence. It started after the law intending to allow the 2017 Catalan independence referendum was denounced by the Spanish government under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and subsequently suspended by the Constitutional Court until it ruled on the issue. Some international media outlets have described the events as "one of the worst political crises in modern Spanish history".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Together for Catalonia (2017)</span> Political party in Spain

Together for Catalonia was an electoral and parliamentary alliance in Catalonia, registered as a political party in the interior ministry in July 2018, originally envisaged as a platform comprising the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT), successor of the late Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC), and independents and centered around the candidacy of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont ahead of the 2017 Catalan regional election. Some of these independents went on to form the Action for the Republic (AxR) political party, which is also part of the alliance in the Parliament of Catalonia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Torrent</span> Catalan politician and urban planner

Roger Torrent i Ramió is a Spanish politician and urban planner from Catalonia. A former mayor of the municipality of Sarrià de Ter in north-eastern Spain, Torrent was President of the Parliament of Catalonia from January 2018 until March 2021. Since 26 May 2021 he is the Minister of Business and Work of Catalonia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordi Turull</span> Spanish politician (born 1966)

Jordi Turull i Negre is a Spanish politician from Catalonia associated with Together for Catalonia. Since March 2018 he has been in pre-trial custody by order of the Supreme Court of Spain and accused of sedition and rebellion. On 10 July 2018 a Supreme Court judge suspended him as a deputy in the Catalan parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quim Torra</span> Former president of Catalonia (born 1962)

Joaquim Torra i Pla, known as Quim Torra, is a Catalan lawyer and journalist from Spain. He served as President of the Government of Catalonia from 17 May 2018 to 28 September 2020, when the Supreme Court of Spain confirmed a court ruling by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia condemning him for disobeying the Central Electoral Board during the April 2019 general election, leading to his disqualification from office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Maragall</span> Spanish politician

Ernest Maragall i Mira is a Spanish economist, politician, member of the Parliament of Catalonia and former Minister of Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency of Catalonia. He was previously Minister of Education, a member of the European Parliament and a member of Barcelona City Council (BCC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josep Rull</span> Spanish politician (born 1968)

Josep Rull i Andreu is a Spanish politician from Catalonia serving as President of the Parliament of Catalonia since June 2024. He previously served as the Counselor of Territory and Sustainability of Catalonia at the Government of Carles Puigdemont between 2016 and 2017, when Spanish Rajoy's Government ceased the Catalan executive following the Catalan declaration of independence amid the application of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution. Between 2 November and 4 December 2017, Rull was jailed and again on 23 March 2018. He was a member of the Catalan Parliament but on 10 July 2018 a Supreme Court judge suspended him as a deputy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Call for the Republic</span> Political party in Spain

The National Call for the Republic was a pro-independence, big tent political party in Catalonia. It aimed at uniting pro-independence political parties and organisations throughout Catalonia towards the common goal of establishing a Catalan Republic, regardless of political ideology. Its members included both independent figures from the civil society and aligned to the Together for Catalonia (JxCat) alliance—such as Quim Torra or Jordi Sànchez—as well as prominent members of the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT), among others: former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, former regional ministers Josep Rull, Jordi Turull and Laura Borràs or party vice-president Míriam Nogueras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action for the Republic (Catalonia)</span> Political party in Spain

Action for the Republic is a Catalan nationalist and progressive political party in Catalonia, founded by independent deputies of the Parliament of Catalonia grouped into the Together for the Republic internal current within the Together for Catalonia (JxCat) alliance. The party defines itself ideologically as independentist, republican, ecologist, feminist and progressive, and has the Dutch Democrats 66 party as its ideological referent. It advocates for a "broad republican and patriotic front" together with other pro-independence parties while supporting "a policy of rupture".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Together for Catalonia (2020)</span> Political party in Spain

Together for Catalonia, frequently shortened to Junts, is a Catalan nationalist and pro-independence political party that sits on the centre-right of the political spectrum. It is the second-largest party in the Parliament of Catalonia, holding 35 of the 135 seats. The current party president since 2024 is Carles Puigdemont.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 Catalan regional election</span>

The 2024 Catalan regional election was held on Sunday, 12 May 2024, to elect the 15th Parliament of the autonomous community of Catalonia. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

Candiru is a private Tel Aviv-based company founded in 2014 which provides spyware and cyber-espionage services to government clients. Its management and investors overlap significantly with that of NSO Group. Its operations began being uncovered in 2019 by researchers at CitizenLab, Kaspersky, ESET. Microsoft refers to the company's cyber-espionage operations as "Caramel Tsunami/SOURGUM" while Kaspersky refers to it as "SandCat"

References

  1. 1 2 "Hauek dira Pegasus eta Candiru programekin ustez espiatu dituzten independentistak". EITB (in Basque). 19 April 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  2. ↑ "How Democracies Spy on Their Citizens". The New Yorker. 14 April 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  3. ↑ "Puig admite que el CNI catalán espió a petición de los Mossos". El Diario Vasco (in European Spanish). 24 January 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  4. ↑ "Al Jazeera journalists 'hacked via NSO Group spyware'". BBC News. 21 December 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  5. ↑ Pérez, José de Córdoba and Santiago (13 January 2022). "Pegasus Spyware Deployed Against El Salvador Journalists and Activists". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Scott-Railton, John; Campo, Elies; Marczak, Bill; Razzak, Bahr Abdul; Anstis, Siena; Böcü, Gözde; Solimano, Salvatore; Deibert, Ron (18 April 2022). "CatalanGate: Extensive Mercenary Spyware Operation against Catalans Using Pegasus and Candiru". The Citizen Lab. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  7. ↑ "About the Citizen Lab". The Citizen Lab. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  8. ↑ "Espanya va espiar l'independentisme amb Pegasus, segons 'The New Yorker'". ElNacional.cat (in Catalan). 18 April 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  9. ↑ Gil, Joaquín (14 July 2020). "El mòbil del president del Parlament va ser objectiu d'un programa espia que només poden comprar Governs". EL PAÍS (in Catalan). Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  10. ↑ "Phone of top Catalan politician 'targeted by government-grade spyware'". the Guardian. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  11. ↑ "Otegi: "Aquí algunos salieron de rositas de 40 años de dictadura y ese Estado profundo sigue funcionando al margen"". www.publico.es. 20 April 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  12. ↑ Lete, Irati Urdalleta (20 April 2022). "Pegasus: zelatari isila norbere poltsikoan". Berria (in Basque). Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  13. ↑ "Pegasus ha espiat quatre presidents de la Generalitat i més de seixanta polítics i activistes independentistes". VilaWeb (in Catalan). Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  14. ↑ "El factótum catalán, rico y proindepe tras la denuncia del espionaje con Pegasus" . El Mundo (in Spanish). 25 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  15. ↑ "El independentismo oculta que el autor del informe sobre Pegasus tiene vínculos con la Generalitat". The Objective (in Spanish). 24 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  16. ↑ "Spain's top court rules Catalonia's independence referendum illegal". ABC News. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  17. ↑ "El CNI admite haber espiado a Aragonès y el entorno de Puigdemont con autorización". ElNacional.cat (in Spanish). 5 May 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  18. ↑ Scott-Railton, John; Campo, Elies; Marczak, Bill; Razzak, Bahr Abdul; Anstis, Siena; Böcü, Gözde; Solimano, Salvatore; Deibert, Ron (18 April 2022). "CatalanGate: Extensive Mercenary Spyware Operation against Catalans Using Pegasus and Candiru". The Citizen Lab. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  19. ↑ "La llista de totes les persones espiades en el CatalanGate". dBalears (in Catalan). 18 April 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  20. ↑ "How Democracies Spy on Their Citizens". The New Yorker. 14 April 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  21. ↑ NacióDigital (19 April 2022). "Els investigadors de l'espionatge a l'independentisme estableixen un "nexe sòlid" amb l'Estat | NacióDigital". www.naciodigital.cat (in Catalan). Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  22. ↑ "European Parliament Multimedia Platform". multimedia.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  23. ↑ NacióDigital. "Es constitueix la comissió del Parlament Europeu que investiga Pegasus en ple "Catalangate" | NacióDigital". www.naciodigital.cat (in Catalan). Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  24. ↑ "Sobre espías, corporaciones, omisiones y desidia". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). 1 June 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  25. ↑ "Òmnium preparó hace meses una campaña contra el 'Catalan Gate'". El Español (in Spanish). 21 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  26. ↑ "El independentismo oculta que el autor del informe sobre Pegasus tiene vínculos con la Generalitat". The Objective | Noticias exclusivas y opiniones libres en abierto (in Spanish). 24 April 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  27. ↑ Olivas, José Javier (May 2022). "Methodological and ethical issues in Citizen Lab's spyware investigation in Catalonia". ResearchGate. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  28. ↑ Olivas, Jose Javier (6 June 2022). "Los descuidados peritos del "Catalangate": el valor del informe de Citizen Lab". HayDerecho (in European Spanish). Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  29. ↑ de Profesores, Foro (5 July 2022). "Letter to University of Toronto by Foro de Profesores 5 July 2022" (PDF). Foro de Profesores. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  30. ↑ "'CatalanGate': escándalo útil, investigación teledirigida". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). 28 April 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  31. ↑ "Òmnium preparó hace meses una campaña contra el 'Catalan Gate'". Crónica Global (in Spanish). 21 April 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  32. ↑ "La Guardia Civil sitúa a empresarios e informáticos en el 'CNI catalán' que se reunió con CDR para aupar la república". Europa Press. 22 October 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.