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EU commissioner Didier Reynders has condemned the alleged use of spyware by national security services to hack political opponents and journalists.��

The former Belgian lawyer told the European parliament that legislation is needed to protect the rights of activists, journalists and politicians following the- warning that perpetrators must be prosecuted.��

Reynder said that while laws already existed to protect digital rights in , a further tightening of the rules pending a privacy regulation was required.

International scrutiny over alleged abuses��would continue, he said.

“Any indication that such intrusion of privacy actually occurred needs to be thoroughly investigated and all responsible for a possible breach have to be brought to justice,”��The Guardian reported��Reynder as saying.

“The commission totally condemns any illegal access to systems or any kind of illegal trapping or interception of community user communications. It’s a crime in the whole of the European Union,” he said.��

The EU is closely monitoring an investigationinto reports that Viktor Orban’s right-wing government used the Israeli spyware to target journalists and dissenters, the EU’s justice tsar also said.��

At least five appeared on a leaked list of potential targets in the Pegasus scandal.��

has denied that numbers on the leaked list were selected for surveillance: “The list is not a list of Pegasus targets or potential targets,” the company has said.��

“The numbers in the list are not related to NSO Group in any way.”��

��made international headlines��in July 2021, when governments faced allegations that they used Israeli-made malware to spy on the phones of activists, journalists, corporate executives, and politicians.��

The spyware works by infecting a user's phone covertly to monitor emails, calls, locations, text messages, and cameras.��

Up to 50,000 people around the world have been listed as potential targets of Pegasus, according to The Guardian.��

The list of leaked potential targets ranges from French President Emmanuel Macron to the Prime Minister of Iraq.��