2022 Greek surveillance scandal

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This article is part of a series about Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Political offices President of New Democracy (2016–present) Leader of the Opposition (2016–19) Prime Minister of Greece (2019–2023) (2023-present) Leader of the Opposition 2015–16 New Democracy leadership election Shadow Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis Prespa Agreement Prime Minister of Greece First term First Cabinet EastMed pipeline 2020 presidential election COVID-19 pandemic in Greece Egypt-Greece maritime deal Operation Freedom 2021 Greek protests 2021 Greece wildfires 2021 Census Storm Elpis Wiretapping Scandal Tempi train crash Tempi train crash protests Second term Second Cabinet 2023 Greece wildfires Storm Daniel Same-sex marriage legalization Elections 2019 2023 (June)
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The 2022 Greek surveillance scandal, sometimes called Predatorgate^[1] or Greek Watergate,^[2] refers to the prolonged and en masse monitoring of individuals prominent in the Greek political scene, along with multiple public persons, including the president of the social democratic party, PASOK, Nikos Androulakis, the journalists Thanassis Koukakis and Stavros Michaloudis, as well as members of the government and close affiliates of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, among others, via the Greek National Intelligence Service (EYP) or the Predator spyware.

Following the 2019 Greek legislative election, the new Greek Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis placed the Greek National Intelligence Service (EYP) under his personal control and the responsibility of his nephew and General Secretary of the Prime Minister, Grigoris Dimitriadis and appointed Panagiotis Kontoleon as EYP chief, after changing the law about the office's required qualifications. 92 smartphones, belonging to businessmen, journalists, prosecutors, state officers, politicians, government ministers and their associates, were targeted with Predator via 220 SMS messages, sent via bulk messaging services. Seven SMS messages contained precise data about the target's vaccination appointment against COVID-19, obtained by EYP surveillance. The first trial SMS messages were sent in 2020, while the 11 first confirmed real SMS messages appeared as sent from the phone number of Dimitriadis in January 2021, in response to wishes he had received for his name day the previous day.

In January 2023, ADAE, the Greek independent authority safeguarding the privacy of telecommunications, confirmed that Minister of Labour Kostis Hatzidakis and the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff General Konstantinos Floros had been under surveillance from EYP, contrary to Mitsotakis's denial the previous month.