Director of counter-terrorism force was targeted with Pegasus spyware in Hungary?

The Deputy Director-General of the Counter-Terrorism Centre (TEK) was also a target of the Pegasus spyware. It can be seen from a recent database that Zsolt Bodnár’s smartphone was monitored with the software of the Israeli NSO company. In addition to Bodnár, we can also find out the identities of other targets.

Counter-terrorism among the spyware targets

The company that develops Pegasus says of its service that the NSO aims to eradicate terrorism and crime. The program wants to help government agencies. This makes it particularly interesting that

Zsolt Bodnár, former Deputy Director-General of the Hungarian Counter-Terrorism Centre, was targeted by the software.

In 2018, TEK fired Bodnár. There was an investigation in this regard because TEK thought that Bodnár collected inside information. The Forbidden Stories network and the international advocacy organisation Amnesty International co-founded the database. This database contains phone numbers selected by NSO customers, writes blikk.hu.

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The Pegasus software may not have hacked the targeted phone. We can only know from the database who was a target. However, technical analysis can detect traces of Pegasus. With the Israeli NSO program, you can access all the data and secret messages of a phone. They can even turn on the device’s microphone or camera.

There is a lot of uncertainty around Bodnár and Pegasus

The NSO claims that only foreign states and their authorities bought Pegasus. Fidesz does not deny that they bought the spyware. Not only Zsolt Bodnár but also Secretary of State Attila Aszódi was a target of the spyware.

It is unusual to observe such a high-ranking man.

Telex.hu writes that governments can observe such a high-ranking person only if a very serious crime is suspected. Based on the information so far, the Hungarian state used Pegasus against Hungarian targets.

Staff from the Tel Aviv embassy met with prominent Israeli politicians and public figures. Ambassador Levente Benkő believes that Israel is an important strategic ally for Hungary. According to him, Israel is the safest point in the Middle East. “The excellent relations between Hungary and Israel are based on common interests,” Benkő said.

Read alsoParliament committee declares meeting on spy software confidential

Source: blikk.hu, telex.hu