Cyprus President Denies His Country Being A Spyware Exporter, Here's Why

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades received an award from Israel. (photo: twitter @AnastasiadesCY)

JAKARTA - The Cypriot Parliament opened an investigation on Wednesday, November 9 into the development of spyware in the island nation, after a European Parliament committee investigation report said the country was becoming an important export hub for the surveillance or spyware industry.

Sophie in't Veld, rapporteur on the first draft report for a European Parliament committee called PEGA, said on Tuesday 8 November that Cyprus was an "interesting place" to sell surveillance technology. It also added that "the abuse of spyware in EU member states is a grave threat to democracy across the continent".

The report quoted Cypriot officials as saying "three to four" companies were producing spyware on the island.

"It has been confirmed that Cyprus is a greenhouse for companies producing spyware ... that have political backing," said lawmaker Aristos Damianou of the opposition AKEL party, who requested a parliamentary investigation.

But a Cypriot government spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters on the report.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades last week said Cyprus' involvement in spyware surveillance in other countries was 'imaginary'.

Members of the conservative Democratic Rally party have accused the opposition of trying to sway public opinion ahead of presidential elections in early 2023.

One of the spyware developers, Israel's NSO group, said in a June 2021 report that its products are "strictly regulated by export control authorities in the countries where we export our products: Israel, Bulgaria and Cyprus".

NSO, which sells Pegasus spyware to government agencies, says it is a powerful tool in the fight against crime and terrorism.

In a written response to a question raised by Reuters in July 2021, Cyprus' ministry of energy, trade and industry said that there was no information on issuing export licenses for NSO products to date.