Pegasus: Hungary admits use of controversial espionage software

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Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary and chairman of the Fidesz party

Photo: ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP

After several months of silence, a high-ranking member of the Hungarian ruling party Fidesz has admitted that the EU country's interior ministry has procured the controversial Israeli espionage software Pegasus.

"The (secret and police) services concerned always acted in accordance with the law," said the chairman of the parliamentary defense and home affairs committee, Lajos Kosa, in Budapest on Thursday.

The Pegasus scouting attacks were all approved by judges or the Justice Department, he added, and said, "I don't see anything offensive in them."

The government did not illegally spy on citizens, he said.

Kosa said after a meeting of the committee, according to the state news agency MTI.

When purchasing the espionage software, the Interior Ministry undertook not to violate any rights of citizens.

At the meeting, Interior Minister Sandor Pinter was asked about the use of the software.

Opposition politician Agnes Vadai, a member of the committee, told journalists that Pinter did not want to confirm or deny that journalists or politicians were being monitored using the software.

The transcript of Thursday's committee meeting was under lock and key until 2050, she said.

Research by 17 international media outlets published in July revealed that the phones of hundreds of journalists, politicians and human rights activists in various countries had been monitored with the help of Pegasus.

Worldwide, authoritarian governments in particular had used the surveillance software on a large scale against critics, oppositionists and journalists.

In Hungary, too, it was shown that independent journalists, media owners and politicians had downloaded the software onto their mobile phones without their knowledge.

The Hungarian government had not commented on this at the time.

Technology is tapping into phones

The Pegasus software can access data on a telephone unnoticed.

It is also able to switch on the device's camera and microphone.

The US blacklisted Israeli developer NSO Group.

According to the US Department of Commerce, the spy software enabled authoritarian governments to target government critics, journalists and activists living abroad in order to silence them.

Right-wing nationalist Viktor Orbán has ruled Hungary for almost twelve years.

Critics accuse him of dismantling democracy and the rule of law.

jso / jok / dpa / AFP