“Pegasus Project”: Journalists in Hungary monitored

Independent journalists are under pressure in Hungary. An international research now shows that some of them were specifically spied on via their cell phones – with the help of the powerful surveillance software “Pegasus”.

Szabolcs Panyi sits in a small office in Budapest’s old town. He left his cell phone in the next room. The journalist is worried about being bugged – about his cell phone being used as a bug again. Because a forensic analysis has shown that the espionage software “Pegasus” has already been active on his phone. “They could have access to all of my e-mails, my appointments, my private photos and videos. They could even have switched on the microphone and camera unnoticed,” says Panyi. “It’s pretty frightening how extensive the control can be”.

Amnesty International security experts found traces of the “Pegasus” software on his cell phone. The program is a powerful monitoring tool. If you upload it to someone else’s cell phone, you can determine the location of the device, listen to and read everything, including passwords and actually encrypted messages. Victims hardly have a chance to defend themselves against it.

Espionage against journalists and members of the opposition

The software was developed by the Israeli company NSO. Allegedly, she repeatedly assures, she only gives her program to verified government agencies – and they are only allowed to use it to target terrorists or serious criminals, for example. But the research of the “Pegasus Project” now shows that many opposition activists, human rights activists and journalists around the world have been spied on and probably still are – and that also in a country of the European Union, in Hungary.

“I had nightmares that something like this would happen,” says Panyi. His telephone number was discovered by journalists involved in the “Pegasus Project” on a list of telephone numbers that had apparently been selected as spying targets by NSO customers. They found not only his number there, but also that of a direct colleague of his and other Hungarian journalists. A former NSO employee confirmed to the journalists who worked on the “Pegasus Project” that Hungary was, or still is, one of NSO’s customers.

However, it is unclear which specific body could have steered the wiretapping. Panyi himself was involved in the research. The team of journalists was able to assign several numbers from the NSO data to other affected persons in Hungary. Many belonged to suspected criminals, but some also belonged to high-ranking media managers, lawyers or opposition politicians. The research suggests that Hungary has been using the “Pegasus” software since the beginning of 2018, apparently also to spy on people critical of the government.

Five permits a day

In the same year the UN Committee for Human Rights published a report in which it criticized Hungary’s laws for insufficient protection of the population from “arbitrary interference with the right to privacy”. It is true that the Ministry of Justice has to officially approve wiretapping measures when it comes to cases in which there is an alleged threat to national security.

But that seems to happen very often. In 2015, the ministry approved more than 1,000 such measures. According to a report by the online medium “168 Ora”, there were 1285 in 2020 and this year already around 1000 – an average of around five per day.

Orbán’s spokesman asks counter questions

Zoltan Varga was apparently also supposed to be spied on. He is the last major media entrepreneur in Hungary that still enables independent reporting. His Central Media Group includes 25 newspapers and magazines and 19 websites. Varga himself repeatedly criticizes Orbán publicly. As part of the “Pegasus Project”, the journalists discovered his cell phone number on the list of spying targets for NSO customers.

When asked about the spying software, the Hungarian government initially stated that it was not aware of the alleged data collection to which the questions related. In another short email, Orbán’s spokesman pointed out that the rule of law prevails in Hungary and that government agencies that are allowed to use clandestine methods are controlled by governmental and non-governmental institutions. The statement ends with several counter-questions: whether the same questions have been asked to other countries such as the USA or Germany and whether any secret service has helped formulate the questions.

NSO speaks of “false claims”

The NSO company denies that journalists, media managers or members of the opposition could have been spied on to a large extent with its program. At the request of the international research team under the “Pegasus Project”, NSO announced that many of the items listed throughout the planned coverage were “false claims”. There is “no factual basis” for them.

Regardless of the wrong information from the company’s point of view, it will continue to investigate “all credible allegations” about misuse of its programs and, if in doubt, “take appropriate measures”, such as switching off customer systems, as has happened several times in the past, NSO said.

The company sees itself on a “life-saving mission” as its technology helps prevent terrorist attacks or smash drug trafficking rings. The company does not comment on the question of whether certain countries are among its customers.

Intelligence agents against Soros’ activities as well

In Hungary, many journalists have been under pressure since Orbán came to power in 2010. Several media outlets were bought up by government-affiliated entrepreneurs, public service broadcasting was massively rebuilt, and many critical journalists were fired. In the ranking of press freedom of the organization Reporters Without Borders, Hungary is now in 92nd place, 69 places lower than at the beginning of Orbán’s reign.

“Direkt36”, Panyi’s employer, is one of the remaining independent media outlets. It is financed to around 70 percent from small donations and receives money from an organization close to George Soros. The US investor and philanthropist is viewed by the Hungarian government as an enemy of the state. Orbán declared at the end of 2017 that the state must use all means at its disposal against Soros – including intelligence.

The telephone numbers of Panyi and his colleague from Direkt36 were listed as targets in 2019 according to the data that were evaluated as part of the “Pegasus project”. In addition, an analysis by technology specialists from Amnesty International suggests that the two phones were actually accessed for months. During this time, both journalists had confidential conversations, wrote secret messages and met people for their research who wanted to remain anonymous. “That’s the worst part,” says Panyi. “I did everything I could to protect my sources.” But he doesn’t know now what the Hungarian government has heard on his cell phone. In the meantime, Panyi and his colleague meet regularly with people to talk to in parks or forests – only with a pad and pen, without electronic aids.

Cathrin Kahlweit, Frederik Obermaier, Bastian Obermayer, Astrid Geisler, Hannes Munzinger, Holger Stark, András Peto and Shawn Walker contributed to the research for this text.