According to a criminological analysis of several mobile devices, Victor Orbán’s government introduced new weapons into its war against the media in Hungary. He used one of the most aggressive spyware programs against investigative journalists and one of the last remaining independent media owners in the country.
The Pegasus project, a joint investigation conducted by the French non-profit magazine Forbidden Stories, analyzed records that suggest that a wide range of people in Hungary were selected before a possible attempt to hack sophisticated spyware. NSO Group. In some cases, forensic medical examination confirmed that the devices were infected with Pegasus.
The leak includes phone numbers of people who were apparently under national security surveillance or were the subject of criminal investigations. But among them are data from at least 10 lawyers, an opposition politician and at least five journalists.
The phones of two journalists from Pegasus’ Hungarian partner, Direkt36, were successfully infected with spyware, including Szabolcs Pani, a well-known reporter with a wide range of sources in diplomatic and national security circles.
A forensic analysis of the Amnesty International device unequivocally concluded that it had been broken by Pegasus more than once in seven months in 2019. The device became infected shortly after Ms.’s request for comment to Hungarian officials.
Ms believes that some in Orban’s government believe that independent journalists are conspiring against them. “I think there is widespread paranoia, and they see much more in our motives and networks than they really are,” he told The Guardian.
Earlier, Orban’s spokesman Zoltan Kovacs publicly attacked Pani, accusing him of “orbanophobia and ungarophobia” and calling him “deeply involved in political activity.”
Since Orbán became prime minister in 2010, Hungary has dropped from 23rd to 92nd in the World Press Freedom Index. Earlier this month, Reporters Without Borders included Orban in its list of “enemies of press freedom,” and the EU leader took part for the first time.
There have been virtually no cases of physical violence against journalists in Hungary, but Orbán’s grueling war against the media uses various means. These include harassment of independent journalists, pressure on media owners, withdrawal of state-run media from critical media, and aggressive takeovers by pro-government