<\/p>\n
On June 24, 2021 in Amalfi, near Naples in Southern Italy, L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros showed up in a T-shirt with the word \u2018ICON\u2019 printed on it<\/a>, walking in the street with his new partner, former TV presenter Andrea V\u00e1rkonyi. The appearance of Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n’s childhood friend, a former gas fitter who has become one of Hungary’s richest men in the last few years, was not entirely unexpected. A Bombardier private jet with the call sign OE-LEM, previously used by the billionaire\u2019s family and Orb\u00e1n himself, as well as a luxury yacht named Lady Mrd (\u2018Lady Billion\u2019) also arrived in the Naples area just that day.<\/p>\n That’s what made photographer-journalist D\u00e1niel N\u00e9meth think that it might be worth traveling to the Southern Italy this summer. N\u00e9meth has spent years investigating and documenting the luxury lifestyle of Hungary\u2019s ruling elite, following them with his camera as they travelled around Europe. This time, however, someone was watching him too.<\/p>\n A Direkt36 investigation has found that in early July, the journalist\u2019s two phones were hacked with Pegasus spyware, a tool that has been used against several other Hungarian journalists and critics of the government in recent years. The spyware<\/span>, developed by the Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO,<\/span> could access messages, photos and videos stored on the device, or even remotely turn on the phone\u2019s microphone and camera.<\/span><\/p>\n In July, a team of international journalists published stories as part of the Pegasus Project<\/a>, which were based on a database of 50,000 phone numbers selected for monitoring by NSO\u2019s customers. Forbidden Stories<\/span>, a Paris-based journalism outlet,<\/span> and <\/span>the human rights organization <\/span>Amnesty International <\/span>(AI) <\/span>had access to the database, which they shared with 16 other news organizations, including The Washington Post, the S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung and The Guardian. From Hungary, Direkt36 was the only participant<\/span> and as part of the project we have already revealed <\/a><\/span>how influential lawyers, opposition politicians<\/a>, and two state secretaries of the Orb\u00e1n government<\/a> were also targeted with Pegasus in Hungary.<\/p>\n N\u00e9meth’s phone number did not yet appear on this leaked list, but the reason for that is that the list was generated before he became a target. After the Pegasus story broke in mid-July, N\u00e9meth approached Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto in Canada through an acquaintance and asked them to analyze his phones. Citizen Lab\u2019s experts have found traces of Pegasus on the journalist\u2019s devices. N\u00e9meth then turned to Direkt36, and we asked Amnesty Tech, the security lab of AI, to conduct a second, independent analysis of the phones.<\/p>\n Amnesty’s forensic analysis showed that D\u00e1niel N\u00e9meth’s two phones were successfully hacked with Pegasus spyware, one from July 1 to 9, 2021, and the other from July 5 to 9. During this period, N\u00e9meth was in Hungary just after returning from the reporting trip to Southern Italy. He was in the middle of planning his next trip by observing the route of the luxury vehicles used by the Fidesz elite.<\/p>\n “Amnesty Tech\u2019s confirmation of a Pegasus infection on D\u00e1niel N\u00e9meth\u2019s device is yet another outrageous example of how NSO Group\u2019s spyware is being used as a tool to silence journalists,\u201d said Likhita Banerji, researcher at Amnesty Tech, calling the Hungarian authorities for conducting \u201can independent, transparent, and impartial investigation of any cases of unlawful surveillance revealed by the Pegasus Project.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis case is a clear warning sign that surveillance abuses are out of control in Hungary,\u201d said John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at Citizen Lab. He added that \u201cthe competent European Union bodies need to take a close look at the growing list of Pegasus cases in Hungary.\u201d<\/p>\n Evidence gathered so far strongly suggests that Hungarian state actors are behind the use of Pegasus in Hungary. A security officer formerly with one of Hungary\u2019s intelligence services told Direkt36 that, according to his knowledge, Hungarian services started using Pegasus in 2018 as a direct result of strengthening ties between Israel and Hungary. A former NSO employee also confirmed to one of the project\u2019s partners that Hungary indeed procured the Pegasus software.<\/span> The Hungarian government has not denied that they use Pegasus, nor did they deny the surveillance of the people Direkt36 has reported about.<\/span> The government did not reply to questions about the surveillance of N\u00e9meth.<\/span><\/p>\n On July 22, in an Israeli radio show, NSO founder Shalev Hulio responded to a question from Direkt36 that if Pegasus was indeed used to monitor journalists in Hungary, it would be unacceptable and the case would be investigated. And if the abuse is confirmed, Hulio claims that their client monitoring Hungarian journalists will be cut off from using their spyware. However, NSO never comments on who their customers are, nor did Hulio answer questions about whether the Hungarian state indeed uses Pegasus.<\/p>\n The Pegasus infections found on D\u00e1niel N\u00e9meth’s phone occurred just two weeks before the radio show and the publication of the first Pegasus Project stories. He is not the only one in Hungarian media whose phone was compromised with Pegasus very recently. Zolt\u00e1n P\u00e1va, the publisher of the opposition news site ezalenyeg.hu, was surveilled with the spyware in March and May this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n D\u00e1niel N\u00e9meth has contributed to some of the most groundbreaking investigative stories in Hungary in recent years, but his name is still not widely known, as he deliberately tries to keep a low profile. For years, this may have helped him follow politicians and pro-government businessmen unnoticed.<\/p>\n In 2012, for example, N\u00e9meth took the famous cover photo for the magazine Magyar Narancs, depicting Lajos Simicska, the oligarch who was at the peak of his power at the time. Simicska was hiding from the public for years \u2013 in fact no new photo of him had appeared in the Hungarian press for more than a decade. N\u00e9meth also managed to take photos of the Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n’s son-in-law, Istv\u00e1n Tiborcz, as he talked to associates of Ghaith Pharaon, a businessman who was on the FBI\u2019s wanted list at the time<\/a>. N\u00e9meth also documented when R\u00e1hel Orb\u00e1n, the oldest daughter of the prime minister and wife of Tiborcz, met with Turkish billionaire Adnan Polat<\/a> on the terrace of Gresham Palace, one of Budapest\u2019s most exclusive hotels.<\/p>\n N\u00e9meth has tried to stay in the background so much that he even decided not to take credit for some of his photos and videos that were published as part of explosive investigative stories. Such were, for example, the video footages published in an article on the news site Index<\/a>. These videos showed that \u00c1rp\u00e1d Habony – the spin doctor of Viktor Orb\u00e1n, Antal Rog\u00e1n – one of Orb\u00e1n\u2019s closest aides, and Bal\u00e1zs Kert\u00e9sz – Rog\u00e1n\u2019s longtime associate, met regularly in Kert\u00e9sz\u2019s downtown office. Later, N\u00e9meth took photos, including drone shots, of Kert\u00e9sz\u2019s luxury villa on Gell\u00e9rt Hill<\/a>, one of Budapest\u2019s wealthiest areas.<\/p>\n With the help of public online flight and ship tracking applications, Hungarian journalists have been trying for years to find out which Fidesz politicians or billionaires are traveling on private luxury vehicles with ties to pro-government businessmen. However, back in 2016 N\u00e9meth was the first to discover the Hungarian government elite\u2019s admiration for yachts, when he documented L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros and his then wife on vacation on a yacht called Artemy<\/a>. N\u00e9meth also stands out in the Hungarian media for his persistence in following the movements of the governing party\u2019s elite abroad. Whenever it is possible, he buys a low-cost plane ticket, and, equipped with his camera, drone, and mobile phone, tries to take photos of these passengers at ports, or sometimes out at sea.<\/p>\n In 2018, he used a drone to record video footage of billionaire L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Sz\u00edjj and his guests<\/a> on board of a yacht called Lady Mrd, which is even more grandiose than Artemy. It also turned out that Sz\u00edjj is the actual owner<\/a> of the luxury yacht. Two years later, in 2020, N\u00e9meth approached the same yacht on a speedboat and this is how he managed to take pictures of Foreign Minister P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3<\/a>. After these recordings were published on Atlatszo.hu, for weeks, the Orb\u00e1n government was forced to explain why their cabinet member vacationed on the yacht of a businessman who had been awarded billions in public contracts.<\/p>\n Pro-Orb\u00e1n propaganda media denounced the investigation by suggesting that it was using \u201cintelligence service methods\u201d and that it equals to \u201ctreason.\u201d Moreover, a pundit even said that if one were to monitor to U.S. president in this way, one would no longer live. Another pundit proposed that N\u00e9meth\u2019s speedboat should have been sunk. A former Hungarian intelligence officer told Direkt36 that since the photographer-journalist had previously also taken pictures of a person (the Foreign Minister) under national security protection during a holiday, this could have been used as an excuse to justify N\u00e9meth\u2019s later surveillance.<\/span><\/p>\n N\u00e9meth continued to follow the travel routes of the yachts and private jets this summer. After noticing on a tracking app that Lady Mrd was heading from Tivat, Montenegro to Naples, Italy, he quickly booked a low-cost plane ticket there as well. He finally arrived in Naples on the same day, June 24, when L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros and his entourage also appeared in the nearby town. In the following days, the photographer-journalist tried to take pictures of the yacht’s passengers. Since only a few passengers showed up, and he did not even recognize them at first, he flew back to Budapest on the evening of June 28th.<\/span><\/p>\n Almost immediately, N\u00e9meth began to organize his return to southern Italy, but with several precautionary measures taken. For the next trip, for example, he did not buy the flight ticket himself, but asked an acquaintance to do so. He decided so because he was afraid of being surveilled. As it turned out, his concern was not unfounded: according to analyses by Citizen Lab and Amnesty International, his phone was first hacked with Pegasus spyware on July 1, a few days after returning home from Naples.<\/span><\/p>\n Those surveilling him must have been very determined. N\u00e9meth’s other precaution was that he had decided not to take the iPhone he was regularly using on the next trip, but instead taking an older device that had a prepaid SIM card. The photographer had not used this device for months, so the money uploaded to it was lost and the card was inactivated. N\u00e9meth reactivated this card on July 4 and put money on it.<\/span><\/p>\n However, the precaution did not help much: the next day, on July 5, according to forensic analyses, this phone was also infected with Pegasus. A former<\/span>\u00a0Hungarian counterintelligence officer told Direkt36 that an essential part of the surveillance toolkit is that they can see in real time when a phone number linked to a target becomes active and connects to the mobile network. He added that the agencies that carry out interceptions and observations already have a close connection with all Hungarian mobile carriers and can gain access to the information they have. <\/span><\/p>\n The\u00a0<\/span>spyware ran on both phones of N\u00e9meth until July 9. This was the day he left Hungary again to board a plane and continue to follow the luxury yacht and its passengers on the coasts of South Italy.<\/span><\/p>\n Forensic analyses showed the last trace of Pegasus at dawn on July 9, with N\u00e9meth boarding an early plane just a few hours later. During his stay in Italy, the spyware was no longer active on his phone. It is not clear why the surveillance ceased during the trip, but it may have had technical limitations. It is known that NSO would not allow customers to carry out surveillance anywhere in the world without limitations.<\/span><\/p>\n Opposition parties have initiated a hearing of the parliament\u2019s national security committee to investigate the Pegasus case, but the governing Fidesz party has blocked the inquiry. Although Minister of the Interior S\u00e1ndor Pint\u00e9r – who oversees several intelligence agencies – appeared before the committee at the end of July, the hearing was not held because Fidesz\u2019 representatives, who are in majority in the committee, did not show up. <\/span><\/p>\n After Direkt36 reported on the surveillance of Zolt\u00e1n P\u00e1va, chairman of the committee J\u00e1nos Stummer of the Jobbik party convened another meeting for September 20, where MPs of the governing party were finally present. Among those summoned to brief the committee were Minister of Interior S\u00e1ndor Pint\u00e9r and State Secretary P\u00e1l V\u00f6lner from the Ministry of Justice. J\u00e1nos Stummer, however, could not provide the public with substantial information after the hearing as everything that was said has been classified until the end of 2050.<\/span><\/p>\n Nevertheless, Stummer was at least able to talk about what was not discussed. \u201cThere was no answer to the question whether the Hungarian state has procured such tool in recent years\u201d – the Jobbik politician said. He claimed that neither S\u00e1ndor Pint\u00e9r, nor P\u00e1l V\u00f6lner refuted clearly that Pegasus was used for the surveillance of journalists and politicians. To find answers to all their questions, opposition MPs of the committee J\u00e1nos Stummer (Jobbik), Zsolt Moln\u00e1r (MSZP) and P\u00e9ter Ung\u00e1r (LMP) then initiated a separate inquiry, but government MPs voted against it.<\/p>\n Late July, the prosecutor\u2019s office announced that an investigation had been launched into \u201cunauthorized gathering of secret information.\u201d According to the statement at the time, the purpose of the investigation was to find out if a crime had occurred at all.\u00a0The prosecutor\u2019s office has recently told Direkt36 that the investigation is ongoing and \u201cseveral journalists have been questioned as witnesses and requests for information have been made in the proceedings; so far, there is no suspect in the case.\u201d<\/p>\n Illustration: szarvas \/ Telex<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photographer-journalist D\u00e1niel N\u00e9meth has spent years investigating and documenting the luxury lifestyle of Hungary\u2019s ruling elite, following them with his camera as they travelled around Europe. This time, however, someone was watching him too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":7304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-telex.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[222,237,249,259,274,330,331],"ppma_author":[549,522],"class_list":["post-9802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-megfigyelesek","tag-meszaros-lorinc","tag-nemeth-daniel","tag-nso","tag-orban-viktor","tag-pegasus","tag-titkosszolgalat","tag-titkosszolgalatok","author-cap-szabolcs","author-cap-andraspetho"],"authors":[{"term_id":549,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"cap-szabolcs","display_name":"Szabolcs","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","description":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":""},{"term_id":522,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"cap-andraspetho","display_name":"AndrasPetho","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","description":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9802"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=9802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tracking the pro-government elite<\/h2>\n
Two trips, two hacked phones<\/span><\/h2>\n
Blocked inquiries<\/h2>\n