What happened in Hungary since the Pegasus spyware revelations

Panyi Szabolcs 2023.07.18.

The Hungarian broker company involved in the purchase of the spyware that hacked phones launched a series of lawsuits against us and other media outlets, but lost all of them. In the meantime, however, real investigation into the circumstances of the surveillance has been very slow due to the authorities’ resistance. Direkt36 summarizes the most important developments two years after the scandal broke.

The inside story of how Pegasus was brought to Hungary

Panyi Szabolcs 2022.09.28.

Direkt36 has revealed that the cyber weapon was purchased by the Hungarian state through a broker company that later became partly owned by Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér’s close confidant, László Tasnádi, who once worked for the Communist state security apparatus. The company also involved a businessman who had previous ties to the current left-wing opposition. Pegasus was considered such an expensive and top-class weapon by the intelligence agencies that it was kept secret even in internal circles.

The attorney became a Pegasus target when one of Hungary’s most notorious murder cases took a turn

Panyi Szabolcs, Matyasovszki Fanni 2022.03.31.

Ilona Patócs is not the first lawyer to be targeted, despite the fact that protecting client communication is an essential part of her job, Direkt36 has learned. Nor is she the only target to have been involved in a Portik case.

Former Hungarian ambassador to China was targeted with Pegasus – shortly before becoming senior advisor to Orbán

Panyi Szabolcs, Matyasovszki Fanni 2022.03.22.

Cecília Szilas is not the first high-ranking Hungarian official who was targeted with the Pegasus spyware. Her phone was added to the list during her stint at a conflict-ridden company called Dunaferr, shortly before becoming the Prime Minister’s senior advisor on China.

A Pegasus felemelkedése – a kémszoftver eddig ismert magyar célpontjai

Matyasovszki Fanni 2022.02.06.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Hungarian.

Another Pegasus target with political ties: a lawyer who oversees elections and worked for opposition party Jobbik

Pethő András, Szabó András 2022.01.27.

László Vértesy was targeted in the fall of 2018 when he was still the owner and director of an institute that had helped opposition party Jobbik in the last parliamentary election campaign.

Orbánék leszerződtették a Pegasus kémszoftver gyártójának korábbi lobbistáját

Panyi Szabolcs 2022.01.24.

Egy olyan washingtoni lobbistát szerződtetett 2021 végén a magyar kormány, aki egészen odáig az okostelefonok feltörésére alkalmas Pegasus kémszoftvert kifejlesztő izraeli cégnek dolgozott

Így ellenőrizheted, megfigyelték-e az iPhone-odat a Pegasus kémszoftverrel

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.12.23.

Kiket figyeltek meg a kémszoftverrel? Az én telefonom is rajta lehet a Pegasus? Hogyan működik a program, amelyikkel meg lehet találni a megfigyelés nyomait? Kérdések és válaszok a Direkt36-tól.

Hungarian president’s closest bodyguards targeted with Pegasus spyware

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.12.13.

Targeting the president’s bodyguards may have been related to the internal struggle within the security agencies, which intensified after the Counter Terrorism Center wanted to find out the details of President János Áder’s schedules, a Direkt36 investigation has found. Even the smallest details of Áder’s activity could be monitored through the surveillance of his bodyguards with Pegasus.

A biztonsági szervek rászálltak a pilótára, aki a fideszes elit repülőútjait figyelte. Aztán feltűnt a Pegasus-célpontok között is

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.11.22.

A ma már pilótaként dolgozó egykori tévés műsorvezető, Pető György szerint azért kerülhetett ő a hatóságok látókörébe, mert információkkal segítette a befolyásos emberek magánrepülőzéséről beszámoló újságírókat.

A Gyurcsány-kormány két nemzetbiztonsági vezetőjét is célba vették a Pegasusszal

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.11.12.

Nem egyértelmű, miért került a célkeresztbe 2019-ben Laborc Sándor egykori NBH-vezető és korábbi kollégája, Glemba Zoltán. Az egykori titkosszolgálati vezetők azt mondják, hogy kormányzati körökben máig tartanak attól, hogy számukra káros információk vannak a birtokukban.

Így foszlott szét a kormányzati ködösítés a Pegasus-ügyben

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.11.06.

Három és fél hónapon át próbálta az Orbán-kormány előbb letagadni, majd agyonhallgatni, hogy az államnak köze lenne a Pegasus-ügyhöz. Ez egészen addig működött is, amíg november 4-én délután Kósa Lajos az RTL Klubnak beismerte, hogy Magyarország megvásárolta és használja is az izraeli NSO Group Pegasus nevű kémszoftverét. Összefoglaljuk, hogy jutott a kormányzat a tagadástól a beismerésig.

Hungarian intel officer involved in spyware operations appears on Pegasus list

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.10.29.

The telephone number of an intelligence officer at the Special Service for National Security (SSNS), which conducts secret surveillance and interceptions, also appears in the list of Pegasus spyware targets, a Direkt36 investigation has found.

In Israel, Pegasus was developed to counter terrorism. In Hungary, a top counter-terrorism official became its target

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.10.22.

Former deputy head of Hungary’s Counter Terrorism Centre Zsolt Bodnár was selected for targeting with the Israeli spyware. Direkt36 found out that when this happened, Bodnár had a conflict with his boss, the Head of Counter Terrorism, who is also Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s former chief bodyguard.

He has been uncovering the lavish lifestyle of Viktor Orbán’s circles. This summer, he was surveilled with Pegasus spyware

Panyi Szabolcs, Pethő András 2021.09.21.

Photographer-journalist Dániel Németh has spent years investigating and documenting the luxury lifestyle of Hungary’s ruling elite, following them with his camera as they travelled around Europe. This time, however, someone was watching him too.

Anti-Orbán news site’s publisher came under surveillance when his contract with an opposition party was revealed

Panyi Szabolcs, Pethő András 2021.09.13.

Páva’s smartphone was hacked with the cyberweapon developed by Israeli company NSO on March 16, the very day when it became public information that opposition party Democratic Coalition signed a contract with his company for social media consulting.

Hungarian opposition publisher was surveilled with Pegasus in spring 2021

Pethő András 2021.09.08.

Previous reporting showed that Pegasus was used against Hungarian targets in 2018 and 2019. Now there is evidence that Zoltán Páva, a former politician who is a news publisher now, was under surveillance in March and May this year.

Hungarian journalist reporting on corruption surveilled with Pegasus for months

Panyi Szabolcs, Pethő András 2021.08.02.

During her surveillance, Brigitta Csikász, one of Hungary’s most experienced crime reporters, wrote about the misuse of EU funds among other topics. Csikász’s investigations revealed that, despite the alarms of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), Hungarian authorities lacked either the will or the ability to prosecute the suspicious spending of EU money.

Opposition mayor has long suspected to be surveilled. Now we know that he has been targeted with Pegasus

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.07.24.

The mayor of Gödöllő was targeted at a time when he was in a serious conflict with the government. People close to him have also appeared in the leaked database of targets selected for Pegasus.

State Secretary who disagreed with a Hungarian cabinet member over Paks nuclear power plant targeted by Pegasus spyware

Szabó András, Pethő András 2021.07.24.

Attila Aszódi became a target shortly before his dismissal in 2019 at a time when he had several conflicts with the Hungarian cabinet member supervising Paks 2. The State Secretary disagreed with the measures that would have benefitted the Russian party building the new nuclear power plant and would have changed the original timetable of the project.

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