A French newspaper quoted its sources as saying that the cell phones of at least five current French ministers between 2019 and 2020 had been infected by Pegasus’s spyware.
A recent investigation by the French government found that the cell phones of five officials contained spyware, according to the research journal Mediapart.
These include Jean-Michel Blanche (Education), Jacqueline Guru (Coordination of Territories and Local Government Relations), Julien Denormandry (Minister of Agriculture), Emmanuel Vargon (current Minister of Housing and Minister of the Environment).
MediaPart reports that the phone number of at least one member of the diplomatic team of French President Emmanuel Macron also contains works of Pegasus.
The investigative journal did not reveal which country spied on the officials, but the French newspaper Le Monde had previously reported that Moroccan intelligence was using the software to spy on the French president and his cabinet.
According to Sputnik, the Elysee Palace and the ministers declined to comment.