Mossos forensic report confirms Pegasus spyware infected Puigdemont aide’s phone

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A Mossos d’Esquadra forensic analysis found that Josep Lluís Alay, Carles Puigdemont’s chief of staff, was surveilled with Pegasus spyware from October 2019 to June 2020. The seized phone yielded over 3 GB of extracted data, exposing unauthorized AI-driven espionage and a serious privacy breach.[AI generated]

Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?

Pegasus is an AI-powered spyware system used for surveillance. The confirmed infection of Alay's phone and the resulting unauthorized spying represent a clear violation of fundamental rights. The AI system's use directly led to harm in terms of privacy infringement and potential legal violations. Hence, this qualifies as an AI Incident under the framework, as the AI system's use caused a breach of human rights.[AI generated]
AI principles
AccountabilityPrivacy & data governanceRespect of human rightsRobustness & digital securityTransparency & explainabilityDemocracy & human autonomy

Industries
Digital securityGovernment, security, and defence

Affected stakeholders
Workers

Harm types
Human or fundamental rightsReputationalPublic interest

Severity
AI incident

AI system task:
Other


Articles about this incident or hazard

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Los Mossos demuestran que la mano derecha de Puigdemont fue espiado con Pegasus

2025-01-10
Ara en Castellano
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
Pegasus is an AI-powered spyware system used for surveillance. The confirmed infection of Alay's phone and the resulting unauthorized spying represent a clear violation of fundamental rights. The AI system's use directly led to harm in terms of privacy infringement and potential legal violations. Hence, this qualifies as an AI Incident under the framework, as the AI system's use caused a breach of human rights.
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El móvil del jefe de gabinete de Carles Puigdemont fue espiado con el programa Pegasus cuando Fernando Grande-Marlaska ya era ministro del Interior

2025-01-10
EL MUNDO
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
Pegasus is a spyware tool that incorporates AI capabilities to exploit vulnerabilities and conduct surveillance. Its infection of a political figure's phone constitutes a breach of privacy and human rights, fulfilling the criteria for harm under violations of human rights or breach of legal protections. Therefore, this event is an AI Incident due to the direct harm caused by the AI-enabled spyware.
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El informe de Mossos determina que el móvil de la 'mano derecha' de Puigdemont fue infectado con Pegasus

2025-01-10
HERALDO
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
Pegasus is an AI-enabled spyware system that uses advanced techniques to infiltrate mobile devices and extract data covertly. The forensic report confirms that the spyware infected the phone and extracted data over a period, which constitutes a direct harm to the individual's privacy and rights. Since the spyware's use led to realized harm, this qualifies as an AI Incident under the framework, specifically a violation of human rights (privacy).
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Un informe de los Mossos confirma que un asesor de Puigdemont fue espiado con Pegasus

2025-01-10
Público.es
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
Pegasus is a sophisticated AI-enabled spyware system used for unauthorized surveillance, which directly led to the extraction of private data from a political figure's phone. This constitutes a violation of human rights and legal protections related to privacy. The event describes realized harm through illegal espionage, meeting the criteria for an AI Incident. The AI system's use (Pegasus) directly caused the harm, and the event is not merely a potential risk or complementary information but a confirmed incident of harm.
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Un informe de Mossos determina que el móvil de la 'mano derecha' de Carles Puigdemont fue infectado con Pegasus

2025-01-10
telecinco
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
Pegasus is a sophisticated spyware tool that uses AI techniques for surveillance and data extraction. The infection of the phone with Pegasus spyware directly led to unauthorized surveillance, which is a violation of fundamental rights and privacy. This fits the definition of an AI Incident because the AI system's use has directly led to harm in terms of rights violations. Therefore, this event is classified as an AI Incident.
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Un informe de los Mossos revela que el móvil de la mano derecha de Puigdemont fue infectado con Pegasus

2025-01-10
El Diario de Ibiza
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
Pegasus spyware is an AI system used for covert surveillance and data extraction. Its use to infect and spy on a political figure's associate directly violates human rights, specifically the right to privacy. The report confirms that the infection occurred and was active for a significant period, indicating realized harm. Therefore, this event qualifies as an AI Incident due to the direct harm caused by the AI system's use in unauthorized surveillance.