A European politician who served on an EU committee investigating spyware abuses by governments has been identified as a victim of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.
Stelios Kouloglou, a Greek journalist and former SYRIZA member of the European Parliament, served on the PEGA committee tasked with investigating the use of Pegasus and similar spyware by European governments. Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto confirmed that Kouloglou’s iPhone was hacked with Pegasus on two occasions.
The first hack occurred in October 2022 while Kouloglou was in hospital for scheduled surgery. The second took place on March 6-7, 2023, while he was traveling from Athens to Brussels for committee hearings. Both incidents coincided with periods of intense activity on the committee, including drafting the final report on spyware abuses in Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Spain.
The exploit used a zero-click vulnerability in Apple’s smart home software, a flaw that required no user interaction. The same Pegasus-linked email address had been used in a previous campaign targeting European journalists, suggesting NSO authorized cross-country operations.
“You realize that all of your personal data was taken, not all the professional exchanges or messages with ministers, but also the very private things, like the happy moments and the sad moments,” Kouloglou told TechCrunch.
A serving European lawmaker described the hacking of Kouloglou’s phone as a “direct attack on the rule of law.” Kouloglou said he plans to sue NSO Group.
The incident highlights how governments that purchase spyware ostensibly for fighting serious crime can deploy it against journalists, lawmakers, and critics. NSO Group, acquired by an unnamed US investment group in 2025 in an effort to rehabilitate its brand, did not comment.
Sources: Politician who investigated spyware abuses had his phone hacked with Pegasus spyware (TechCrunch, July 2, 2026)