According to report: Predator spyware also hacked meta-security executive
“Greece’s Watergate“: That’s what the affair was called last November, since Predator is said to have been used on opposition politician Nikos Androulakis under the guidance of the Greek secret service EYP. The scandal cost the then head of the intelligence service his job.
Now reports the New York Timesthat Artemis Seaford, who worked as a trust and security manager in Meta’s security policy team, was also infected with the spy software in September 2021 and monitored with it for a whole year. Seaford is the first known case of a US citizen being caught by Predator, according to the report.
Predator was developed by a cyber company called Cytrox, which is based in North Macedonia and sells commercial spyware and other surveillance tools.
Why Seaford was under surveillance is still unclear. She has now filed a lawsuit.
“The evidence suggests that the Predator hack was based on private information, most likely obtained through government intelligence eavesdropping,” she said. On Twitter, she emphasized that “anyone, anywhere” could fall victim to a spyware attack, as her case shows. “We need our governments and international bodies to protect us.”
Seaford hopes her example of going public will catch on. “The hope is that this story will encourage other victims of spyware abuse to speak up,” she said. “There are more of us out there, and our stories should not be exploited or forgotten.”
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Meanwhile, the Greek government has denied using the spyware to hack Seaford. A government official, Giannis Oikonomou, told the New York Times, “The Greek authorities and security services have never acquired or used the Predator surveillance software.” To claim otherwise is wrong, he said, citing judicial investigations that which would audit the use of this software by “Non-Governmental Organizations”.
John Scott-Railton from the Canadian CitizenLabwhich has set itself the goal of strengthening democracies, described Seaford’s surveillance as “diabolical” and went on to say: This case shows that the problem with spy software is “out of control in the EU”.
