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Investigations have documented Pegasus infections and targeting attempts against journalists, activists and civil-society figures in several European countries. The evidence is not uniform: some devices were forensically confirmed infected, some were targeted without a confirmed infection, and some broader claims remain allegations or political disclosures. In several prominent cases, investigators could not identify the government client or operator.
What does “targeted with Pegasus” mean?
Pegasus is commercial spyware attributed in these investigations to NSO Group. Reporting that someone was “targeted” does not always mean investigators proved spyware was installed on that person’s phone. The distinction matters because a targeting record, an attempted exploit and a forensic finding of infection are different kinds of evidence.
- Forensically confirmed infection: Investigators found device evidence consistent with Pegasus having successfully compromised the phone. This finding applies to the examined device and period, not necessarily to every device used by that person.
- Targeting or attempted infection: Evidence indicates an attempt or targeting event, but investigators could not confirm that it succeeded.
- Allegation or political disclosure: A claim or government disclosure may identify possible targets without public forensic confirmation for each person. It should not be reported as a confirmed infection.
These investigations are case studies, not a census of European surveillance. Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories described a 2021 leaked list of 50,000 phone numbers as a list of potential surveillance targets; it is not a count of confirmed Pegasus infections. More than 80 journalists from 17 media organizations took part in the Pegasus Project, according to Amnesty’s 2021 methodology report; that number describes the collaboration, not the number of victims.
Which European cases have been documented?
The cases below use the investigators’ stated findings. “Not established” means the cited account did not establish that point; it does not prove that no attempt or infection occurred.
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| Person or group | Country or location | What investigators or public records reported | Infection and attribution status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalan politicians, journalists and family members, including Elisenda Paluzie, Sònia Urpí Garcia, Meritxell Bonet and Jordi Sànchez | Spain | Citizen Lab identified scores of people targeted between 2015 and 2020. Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office said its Security Lab independently verified forensic evidence from a sample. Amnesty reported that Sànchez’s phone was compromised on 13 October 2017 after prolonged targeting, and that journalist Bonet’s phone was hacked in June 2019. | Successful infections were reported for the named phones of Sànchez and Bonet. The sample verification should not be generalized to every reported target. Operator attribution is not established here. |
| Additional people discussed in Spain’s Pegasus controversy | Spain | The European Parliament’s 2023 PEGA inquiry report discussed the government’s admission that 18 people were targeted with judicial authorization and reports of 47 further possible targets. The report noted that warrants and other details were not disclosed. | These figures describe government disclosures and reported possible targets, not a public forensic confirmation of infection for every person. Do not treat them as a confirmed infection count. |
| Galina Timchenko, exiled Russian journalist and Meduza publisher | Berlin, Germany | Citizen Lab reported on 13 September 2023 that her iPhone was infected around 10 February 2023 while she was in Berlin. It found that the attack used a zero-click exploit and assessed with moderate confidence that it involved PWNYOURHOME, targeting Apple’s HomeKit and iMessage. | Infection was found with high confidence. Citizen Lab could not conclusively identify the responsible government client. |
| At least seven additional Russian, Belarusian, Latvian and Israeli journalists and activists | Lithuania, Latvia and Poland | Access Now, Citizen Lab and digital security expert Nikolai Kvantiliani reported in 2024 that they had uncovered at least seven additional targets within the EU, extending an earlier case involving Timchenko. The investigation included examined devices with differing outcomes. | The cases include confirmed infections, attempted infections without confirmed success, and a notified spouse’s device that could not be forensically examined. The count is specific to this investigation and is not a total for Europe. |
| Stelios Kouloglou, former MEP and investigative journalist | Greece / European Parliament context | Amnesty International Security Lab’s 6 July 2026 statement summarized a Citizen Lab forensic analysis published 3 July 2026. It reported infection around 21 October 2022 and again on 6 and 7 March 2023, when Kouloglou was a substitute member of the Parliament’s PEGA inquiry committee. | The analysis reported targeting and infection. It did not attribute the attacks to a specific government. Amnesty said there was no indication Greece was responsible or had been a Pegasus customer. |
Confirmed infections and unresolved attempts in the Baltic and Polish cases
The 2024 Access Now and Citizen Lab investigation illustrates why the status of each device must remain visible. It reported that a Belarusian civil-society member in Vilnius had a device confirmed infected around 25 March 2021; Russian journalist Evgeny Erlikh’s iPhone was found infected in November 2022; and Novaya Gazeta Europe director Maria Epifanova’s iPhone was infected around 18 August 2020. It also reported infections on Andrei Sannikov’s iPhone around 7 September 2021, and on journalist Natallia Radzina’s device on three dates between December 2022 and January 2023.
By contrast, Latvian journalist Evgeny Pavlov’s device was targeted on two dates, but the investigation did not confirm infection. The report also included a spouse’s device that received a notification but could not be forensically examined. Those are not equivalent to confirmed infections, and none of these examined cases constitutes a complete count of surveillance in the region.
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What the Catalan reporting does—and does not—establish
Amnesty International’s 26 May 2022 account of the Citizen Lab investigation described scores of Catalan politicians, journalists and family members targeted from 2015 to 2020, with independent forensic verification by Amnesty’s Security Lab for a sample. Its named successful-compromise examples include Sànchez and Bonet. The sample-based verification does not mean every person named or counted in the wider reporting was independently verified in the same way.
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Separately, the European Parliament’s 2023 inquiry report discussed Spain’s disclosure of 18 people targeted with judicial authorization and reports of 47 further possible targets. Because the report noted that warrants and other details were not disclosed, those public figures should be understood as disclosures and possible-target reports—not proof that every person’s phone was infected.
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Can Pegasus infect a phone without a click?
Yes. The European Parliament’s 15 June 2023 recommendation describes spyware attacks that exploit zero-day vulnerabilities and zero-click techniques, which can work without the target opening a link or interacting with malicious content. Citizen Lab’s examination of Timchenko’s iPhone documented a zero-click infection. That specific finding does not establish that every Pegasus attack uses the same method.
As the Parliament also noted, spyware can make scrutiny difficult, and some spyware may remove traces after uninstallation. This is general technical context, not evidence that trace removal occurred in each case above. It does explain why “I didn’t click anything” cannot rule out an attempted or successful attack—and why a lack of obvious symptoms is not a forensic finding.
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How can someone tell whether their phone was targeted?
A forensic examination is needed to assess whether a particular device was infected. Amnesty International’s 2021 Pegasus forensic methodology report explains the role of device artifacts in assessing compromise. A leaked list or a notification can be an important lead, but neither alone provides the same conclusion as an examination of the phone.
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- Not receiving a notification does not establish that the phone was never targeted. Investigators have cautioned that not every target will necessarily be notified.
- Do not infer infection from someone’s job, nationality, location or political context. Those facts do not identify what happened to a particular device.
What should a person at elevated risk do?
Access Now advises civil-society members to keep device software current and consider Apple Lockdown Mode. If you receive an Apple threat notification or suspect spyware targeting, Access Now recommends contacting its Digital Security Helpline. Citizen Lab likewise recommends expert support for people at high risk.
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Practical next steps
- Preserve the alert and context. Keep the notification and note when it appeared, which device received it, and any relevant circumstances. Avoid assuming that an alert alone establishes infection.
- Contact a specialist. Reach out to Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline or another qualified digital-security organization for advice about your situation and whether forensic examination is appropriate.
- Install available software updates. Access Now includes keeping device software current among its recommended security measures. This is sound risk reduction, not proof that an earlier attempt did or did not occur.
- Consider Apple Lockdown Mode if appropriate. Citizen Lab said the mode would have blunted the Timchenko attack, but cautioned that it cannot be sure it will always work. Treat it as a protective measure to discuss with a specialist, not a guarantee against Pegasus.
Who was responsible for the attacks?
Technical evidence of an infection does not necessarily identify the operator or government client behind it. Citizen Lab could not conclusively determine which government client was responsible for the Timchenko infection; the 2026 Kouloglou analysis likewise did not attribute the attacks to a specific government. Amnesty’s statement on Kouloglou said there was no indication Greece was responsible or had been a Pegasus customer.
The same caution applies to the other cases: do not assign responsibility based only on where a person lived, their nationality, or the political context. Amnesty’s 2022 statement quoted Technology and Human Rights Researcher Likhita Banerji saying, “The Spanish government needs to come clean over whether or not it is a customer of NSO Group.” That was a call for disclosure, not an established finding about customer status.
What do European rules and oversight discussions say?
The European Parliament’s recommendation adopted on 15 June 2023 said spyware surveillance should remain exceptional and called for effective, binding prior judicial authorization by an independent authority, a necessity and proportionality test, strict limits and independent oversight after surveillance. The PEGA inquiry also raised concerns about informing targets, access to remedies and the difficulty of proving infection. These are Parliament’s findings and recommendations, not evidence that the safeguards are uniformly implemented across Europe.
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The Parliament’s recommendation also reproduced Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union: “pursuant to the principle of sincere cooperation, the Union and the Member States shall, in full mutual respect, assist each other in carrying out tasks which flow from the Treaties”. This treaty language is part of the institutional context; it does not establish who operated Pegasus in any of the cases described here.
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