The Greek Watergate scandal has led to a major crisis for the country's government after it emerged that the phones of a journalist and a top opposition politician were infected with Predator spyware in 2022.
The sophisticated spyware can infiltrate mobile phones, access messages and photos, and extract data from a device. Intellexa, an Athens-based Israeli company which developed and distributed Predator, was sanctioned by the US in March 2024 for being a 'security risk' after 'targeting US officials, journalists and policy experts'.
In February this year, a court in Athens found Intellexa's founder Tal Dilian, his partner Sara Hamou, and two former Greek executives of the company, guilty of spyware-related offences. Metro has uncovered that sales trips to the United Kingdom were discussed multiple times during the trial.
Koutsios, a sales engineer at Intellexa from April 2021 to May 2022, testified that he made at least one journey to the United Kingdom to present the firm's software, alongside a company salesperson called Ami Weiner. He described holding talks in 'state-owned' buildings on his trips and insisted that he only ever met with government officials.
Koutsios acknowledged that the software could include 'personal data' and that Predator was a possible method for collecting the data to be analysed. However, he claimed that he had no knowledge about Predator or other illegal surveillance while he was at Intellexa and that was not part of his sales presentations.
The sales engineer continued to sell 'the same software' through remote work company Remote Greece from May 2023 to March 2024, after the Predator scandal broke out. An expense report for plane and taxi fares, filed under the purpose 'UK POC', was submitted by Vasileios Sevastos in May 2022.
The revelation that Intellexa and UK officials held meetings has sparked concern from campaigners. Big Brother Watch's Head of Advocacy Jack Coulson said: 'If the UK government has been considering using Intellexa technology, we should all be worried.'
Amnesty International claimed the company 'is linked with a litany of human rights abuses stretching over many years'. Rebecca White, a researcher in their Security Lab, said: 'If an Intellexa representative were to have met with UK government officials to try to sell their wares... this should of course raise concerns.'
Cyber security expert Professor Alan Woodward said he would be 'surprised' if Intellexa was trying to sell Predator to the UK, who he said would be 'highly likely to stay well clear' of commercial spyware firms. However, he added that it is 'plausible' officials were interested in Intellexa's big data analytics tools.
The UK is leading international efforts to stop powerful hacking tools from spreading or being misused. Britain and France launched the Pall Mall Process in February 2024, bringing together governments, companies and civil society to tackle commercial cyber intrusion tools and services.
A statement from Intellexa founder Tal Dilian said: 'These allegations are neither new nor supported by any credible evidence.' Sara Hamou and the other two defendants in the Intellexa case have also consistently denied all charges and wrongdoing.
All four defendants are due to appear before an appeals court in Athens on December 11.
