Cybersecurity
Alleged Spyware Abuses Convince EU Lawmakers to Urge Sales Ban
- Journalists, government critics targeted with mobile hacks
- European leaders recommend country-by-country approach
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Lawmakers have called for a conditional ban on the sale of spyware in the European Union after an inquiry into allegations that such technology has been abused to hack the phones of government critics and journalists in Hungary, Poland, Spain and Greece.
Members of a special European parliament committee organized to investigate abuses of surveillance technology on Monday voted for an overhaul of rules governing the sale and use of spyware, a kind of malicious software that can be used to remotely access a mobile phone or computer and covertly record audio and steal data.