GoKawiilWe found that former Member of the European Parliament Stelios Kouloglou was hacked with Pegasus spyware while serving on the PEGA committee, which investigated Pegasus and other spyware abuses in Europe. Through forensic analysis of his device, we found that the attackers could have had access to confidential documents and committee deliberations.
Key Findings Former Member of the European Parliament, Stelios Kouloglou , was repeatedly hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware while on the committee investigating Pegasus spyware abuses.
, was repeatedly hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware while on the committee investigating Pegasus spyware abuses. Kouloglou was infected during key periods of PEGA committee activity, and the spyware would have likely captured non-public information about committee activities, possibly breaching EU parliamentary confidentiality and privilege frameworks.
We are not attributing these infections to a particular government at this time, and found no indications that the Greek Government is responsible. Instead, we note an overlap between the first infection and a previously identified Pegasus campaign targeting Russian and Belarusian-speaking exiled journalists and activists in Europe, suggesting a Pegasus customer with authorization to spy in multiple European countries is responsible.
Background
Stelios Kouloglou is a prominent Greek investigative journalist who was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2015. He reported for Greek radio and TV from Paris (1983-84), Moscow (1989-93), and Yugoslavia (1992-95). He later founded and reported for Television Without Borders (TVXS) starting in 2008.
Kouloglou was elected to the European parliament as an independent in the Syriza party’s electoral list (affiliated with the Left). He was elected to the next parliamentary term in the 2019 European elections.
Kouloglou was a substitute member of the European Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (PEGA Committee) from March 24, 2022 to July 18, 2023. The PEGA Committee was established on March 10, 2022 following the 2021 publication of the Pegasus Project and other reporting which revealed European governments used spyware to surveil journalists, activists, politicians, and other citizens. Led by MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld, the PEGA Committee was tasked to investigate the scope of spyware usage in contravention of EU law, focusing on “Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware.”
While sitting as an MEP, Kouloglou continued to write opinion pieces and report for TVXS. He left the Syriza party in October 2023 and sat as an independent until the elections of June 2024, after which he served as a member of the New Left. His parliamentary term ended in July 2024.
Kouloglou Infected with Pegasus Spyware
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