Two senior officials from the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy (ADAE), Greece’s independent regulator overseeing lawful surveillance, are expected to testify on Tuesday in the ongoing trial over the illegal use of the Predator spyware.
The case revolves around four business figures accused of involvement in the development and deployment of Predator: Yiannis Lavranos, described as the real owner of the company Krikel, as well as Felix Bitzios, Tal Dilian, and Sara Hamou of Intellexa, the consortium connected to the controversial spyware system.
Intellexa re-entered the international spotlight last week after leaked training videos suggested the company retained the ability to remotely access the systems of clients who had deployed Predator. The revelations raised fresh concerns about human rights protections, according to an investigation published on Thursday. The videos were part of a series of overlapping inquiries released over a 24-hour period, including a joint investigation by Inside Story, Haaretz, and the WAV Research Collective in collaboration with Amnesty International. Google and Recorded Future also released new research on Intellexa the same day.
Meanwhile, Apple and Google both issued a new wave of cyber-threat notifications to users worldwide, the companies confirmed this week, as part of their ongoing efforts to shield customers from sophisticated surveillance operations. Apple’s alerts, which were sent on December 2, came with few details about the nature of the suspected hacking or the number of affected users. The company noted only that it has now notified users in more than 150 countries.
Google’s announcement on December 3 stated that it was warning all known users targeted with Intellexa’s spyware, a campaign affecting “several hundred accounts” across countries such as Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Angola, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Tajikistan. The company said that Intellexa, which is sanctioned by the U.S. government, was “evading restrictions and thriving.”
Previous rounds of threat notifications from big tech firms have triggered headlines and spurred official investigations, including within the European Union, where senior officials have themselves been targeted with spyware in the past.
