AI-generated illustration

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the transfer of sensitive data on Polish citizens to the Israeli side through the Pegasus spyware used under the previous government amounted to a serious crime against the state. In a video message posted on the US-based social media platform X, he described Pegasus as a tool developed by an Israeli company that enables extensive cyber surveillance, calling the affair one of the biggest scandals in Polish history since the fall of communism.

Tusk said money intended for crime victims was used to purchase Pegasus, a system that handed over all available data on Polish citizens, opposition leaders and independent prosecutors to Israel, with virtually no Polish oversight. Officials responsible for justice and state security, he said, surrendered sensitive data belonging to thousands of Polish citizens to a foreign state and "will answer for it."

Poland's National Prosecution Office released a written statement on findings from an investigation opened in March 2024. Experts from the Internal Security Agency found that Pegasus could extract large volumes of data from mobile devices without users' knowledge or consent, that the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau did not have full control over the system, and that the developer could access the infrastructure where data was processed and stored. A parliamentary commission was set up after the October 2023 elections to examine the allegations.

Key Takeaways

• Tusk called the transfer of Polish citizens' data to Israel through Pegasus a serious crime against the state.
• Prosecutors said Pegasus collected data without consent and the developer could access the infrastructure where it was stored.
• A parliamentary commission was formed after the October 2023 elections to investigate the spyware's use by the previous government.