Austria: National Council approves federal Trojan horse

Cell phones and computers are to be infected with malware so that Austrian investigators can gain access. Only 2 members of the government dared to object.

View into the plenary of the National Council

(Image: Parlamentsdirektion/ Ulrike Wieser)

Jul 10, 2025 at 9:24 am CEST

3 min. read

By

Daniel AJ Sokolov

Austrian investigators will soon be allowed to buy malware (“Bundestrojaner”), infiltrate citizens' devices, and monitor them. Uninvolved third parties, including operators of messenger services, will be obliged by law to secretly participate in the surveillance of others. Suspicion of a criminal offense is not required. It is sufficient if a person is suspected of intending to commit a serious crime in the future. Other investigative measures must appear futile, and an administrative court must give its approval. The National Council, the directly elected chamber of the Austrian parliament, passed the corresponding regulatory bill for the federal Trojan known in Austria as “messenger surveillance” by 105 votes to 71.

Members of the governing parties voted in favor: ÖVP and SPÖ unanimously, the liberal NEOS by a majority. MPs from the FPÖ, the Greens, and Stephanie Krisper and Nikolaus Scherak from the NEOS voted against. The two deputies did not submit themselves to the club requirement. Seven more of the 183 members of the National Council did not take part in the roll-call vote.

The opponents consider the surveillance measure to be unconstitutional, the Greens want to appeal to the Constitutional Court. The NEOS were actually also against it, but have managed to reach a compromise: the scope of use of the federal Trojans is limited to “prevention of certain particularly serious attacks that threaten the constitution,” which are punishable by ten years or more in prison, as well as counter-espionage. Conversely, the FPÖ used to favor this but is now against it. In the public review process, there was a flood of negative comments from citizens and experts alike.

No ban on utilization

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) argued in favor of the surveillance measure in the plenary session of the National Council. It was necessary to combat terrorists and prevent attacks. Communication had changed, which is why the police and secret service needed the state-financed malware. The population's cell phones are “completely irrelevant,” the minister quoted an investigator as saying. This argument is undermined by the lack of a ban on the use of accidental findings and the fact that Karner called for an expansion of messenger monitoring before the decision was made. The minister wants federal Trojans to be used for a wider range of suspected future criminal offenses.

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The amendment to the law will now go to the second chamber of the Austrian parliament, the Bundesrat. The ÖVP and SPÖ have a two-thirds majority there, so the vote is considered a formality. It is not yet known how the only NEOS member of the Federal Council, the Viennese lawyer Julia Deutsch, will vote. From next year, millions from the Austrian federal budget will flow into the black market for as yet unknown security vulnerabilities.