Macron Changes Phone Number Amid Pegasus Spyware Concerns

According to France Info, the French president changed one of his phone numbers, two days after the revelations of the Forbidden Stories media network, which announced that Morocco would have spied in 2019 on one of his phones using the Pegasus software.

"The National Agency for Information Systems (ANSI) has started to provide technical support to people who are supposed to be victims of espionage to verify if the facts are proven. These checks will continue," said Gabriel Attal, the government spokesperson, who specifies that with regard to the President of the Republic, "a number of security protocols have been readjusted".

To read: Morocco Accused of Using Pegasus Spyware on Journalists Across North Africa and France

The names of several personalities and senior officials, journalists and human rights activists from different countries appear on the published list. In France, in addition to President Macron, former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, and fourteen other ministers as well as journalists, would be concerned. Two journalists immediately filed a complaint, which allowed the Paris prosecutor’s office to open an investigation for invasion of privacy, interception of messages, fraudulent interference in a computer system, etc. "If the facts are confirmed, they are serious enough," the Elysée observed, shortly after the publication of this list.

To read: Morocco Denies Using Pegasus Spyware to Target Journalists and Officials

The Israeli company NSO Group, the designer of the Pegasus software, has denied these allegations. Morocco also does not recognize itself in these accusations and denounces a " massive, malicious and slanderous media campaign ". The authorities of the kingdom are asking the journalists who claim to have been spied on to provide tangible evidence of their allegations. The Moroccan public prosecutor’s office has also opened an investigation on this subject.