Intellexa's Predator spyware, exposed in Greece's 'Predatorgate' scandal in 2022, was used to target over 90 individuals including politicians, journalists, and government officials. The Greek opposition leader discovered his phone was infected while serving as an MEP. The scandal forced senior resignations from PM Mitsotakis's administration. In February 2026, Intellexa founder Tal Dilian was sentenced to 8 years in prison — the first time a spyware maker has been jailed. Targets also included UN officials and members of the US Congress.
“European governments are using military-grade spyware to hack the phones of journalists, opposition politicians, and activists — this is state-sponsored surveillance of democracies.”
From “crazy” to confirmed
The Claim Is Made
This is the moment they called it crazy.
For years, security researchers and civil society organizations warned that commercial spyware posed an existential threat to democracy. Governments and tech companies dismissed these concerns as alarmist. Then in 2022, Greece's opposition leader discovered his phone had been secretly infected with surveillance software, and suddenly the warnings didn't sound so paranoid anymore.
The Predatorgate scandal, as it became known, revealed that a company called Intellexa had developed and deployed Predator spyware to infiltrate the phones of over 90 targets across Europe and beyond. The victims included politicians, journalists, activists, and government officials—people whose communications should have been protected by the strongest security measures available. The Greek opposition leader's discovery wasn't an isolated incident; it was the visible tip of a much larger operation.
What made Predatorgate different from previous spyware exposures was its scale and brazenness. Intellexa hadn't targeted a handful of dissidents in an authoritarian state. The company had sold access to what amounted to a mass surveillance tool deployed against democratic institutions themselves. Targets included members of the European Parliament, UN officials, and members of the US Congress. The spyware could intercept calls, access messages, and retrieve files—everything a government might want to know about a political opponent or journalist investigating corruption.
When the scandal first broke, Greek officials moved quickly to minimize the damage. Senior figures in Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's administration acknowledged the operation but framed it as a necessary security measure against terrorism and organized crime. This was the standard defensive posture: yes, we did it, but for legitimate reasons. Several high-ranking officials resigned, but many observers wondered whether accountability would extend beyond resignations and statements.
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Confirmed: They Were Right
The truth comes out. Officially documented.
Confirmed: They Were Right
The truth comes out. Officially documented.
The investigation that followed was thorough. Amnesty International and other human rights organizations documented the targeting patterns, traced the technical infrastructure, and established that Intellexa had deliberately marketed Predator as a tool for governments to purchase. The evidence was overwhelming and undeniable. Phone forensics confirmed infections. Communication logs showed who had been targeted and when. Documents revealed that the spyware had been sold to multiple countries and potentially used by private actors as well.
The turning point came in February 2026 when Tal Dilian, Intellexa's founder, was sentenced to eight years in prison. This wasn't a fine or a slap on the wrist. It was actual incarceration—the first time a spyware maker had faced prison time for their work. The sentence sent a clear message: there would be consequences for those who built tools designed to violate privacy on a mass scale.
The Predatorgate case matters because it validates what experts have been saying for years. Spyware isn't a hypothetical threat or a technical curiosity. It's a weapon that gets deployed against real people doing real work—investigating corruption, representing constituents, holding power accountable. When Intellexa's founder goes to prison, it means that claims about government surveillance programs are no longer easy to dismiss. It means the infrastructure of democracy has genuine vulnerabilities. And it means that rebuilding public trust requires more than just acknowledging the problem. It requires accountability at every level, starting with those who built the tools.
