The Government alleged on May 10 that it could not reveal cyberattacks, 8 days after communicating the espionage to Sánchez

In a parliamentary response, it says that making it public "would imply exposing weak points to hostile foreign actors."

MADRID, 27 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Government alleged on May 10, in a parliamentary response to Vox, that it could not reveal the cyberattacks suffered by public organizations to avoid revealing "weak points" to hostile foreign actors. Eight days earlier, on May 2, the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, announced the espionage suffered by the cell phones of the President of the Government and the Minister of Defense, who were spied on allegedly using the Pegasus 'spywear' system.

"Making public the names of the public bodies that have suffered critical cyberattacks implies making known the weak points that favor the successful execution of new cyberattacks," argues the Government of Pedro Sánchez in a written parliamentary response, consulted by Europa Press.

Taking data from the National Intelligence Center and the National Cryptologic Center (CCN), Vox asked about the 62 critical cyber incidents that were recorded in 2020, when an increase of 192% in attacks of these characteristics was recorded in relation to the year previous.

The Executive refers to the National Cybersecurity Plan (PNCS) that develops the 65 measures contemplated in the National Cybersecurity Strategy (ENCS), a document that cannot be fully disseminated because, according to what it says, "it could compromise the cybersecurity structure, especially with regard to its knowledge by hostile foreign actors".

Within the government strategy, it cites the creation of the National Cyber ​​Incident Notification and Monitoring Platform", whose creation was already foreseen in article 11 of Royal Decree-Law 12/2018, as well as the need to "improve collective cybersecurity by disseminating the culture of cybersecurity through collaboration between public bodies and private entities".

In its response dated May 10, the Government also argues that "cybersecurity is the exclusive competence of the State", although adding that the autonomous communities can "carry out actions in their public sector, as established by the Constitutional Court".

Eight days before writing this response, on May 2 -- a public holiday in Madrid -- the Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, summoned the press to announce the espionage that mobile phones had suffered of Pedro Sánchez and Margarita Robles between May and June 2021. He revealed that specifically 2.6 gigabytes of data had been extracted from the president's phone and 130 megabytes in the two attacks and nine megabytes of the Defense Minister.

Subsequently, and after the inspection of the mobile phones of all the members of the Government, it has been known that the terminal of the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande Marlaska, was also spied on, and that they tried to do so with that of the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas.

Bolaños assured on May 2 that the government wanted to "clarify the truth" by denouncing the wiretaps of the president and the minister --those known at the time-- at the National Court.

"All the questions and all the information we have have been made available to the media and all citizens", asserted the Minister of the Presidency.