The last crisis that rocked the Greek government shows that its surveillance problem makes the NSO group look outdated. The Wired he says:
The wake of the scandal reaches the heart of the European Union. Over the past 13 months, it has been revealed that spyware targeted opposition leaders, journalists, lawyers and activists in France, Spain, Hungary, Poland and even staff at the European Commission, the EU's cabinet-style government, between 2019 and 2021.
The EU is already investigating the use of spyware, but although a 38-person committee is working to draft a reports to be launched in early 2023, the number of new triggers is increasing very quickly.
What stands out in the scandal in Greece is the company behind the spyware used.
Until then, the monitoring software in every EU scandal could be traced back to one company, the notorious NSO group. However, the spyware that tracked Koukakis' phone was made by Cytrox, a company founded in the small European nation of North Macedonia and acquired in 2017 by Tal Dilian - έναν επιχειρηματία που έγινε γνωστός για την οδήγηση ενός φορτηγού παρακολούθησης υψηλής τεχνολογίας στο νησί της Κύπρου αλλά και γιατί έδειξε σε ένα δημοσιογράφο του Forbes πώς μπορούσε να χακάρει τα τηλέφωνα των περαστικών.
In that interview, Dilian said he had acquired Cytrox and absorbed the company into intelligence firm Intellexa, believed to be based in Greece.
Cytrox's arrival in Europe's ongoing scandal shows the problem is bigger than that NSO Group. The EU seems to have a thriving spyware industry of its own.
As the NSO Group fighting various checks at the moment, and entered the US blacklist, the company's lesser-known European rivals are scrambling to get their customers, according to researchers.
Over the past couple of months, Cytrox isn't the only company making headlines for hacking devices within the EU.
In June, Google He discovered that Italian spyware vendor RCS Lab was targeting smartphones in Italy and Kazakhstan.
Alberto Nobili, CEO of RCS, told WIRED that his company condemns misuse of its products, but declined to comment on whether the cases cited by Google were examples of misuse.
"Το προσωπικό της RCS δεν συμμετέχει σε δραστηριότητες που διεξάγονται από τους πελάτες μας", αναφέρει.
Most recently, in July, spyware made by Austria's DSIRF was spotted by Microsoft hacking into law firms, banks and consultants in Austria, the UK and Panama.
