Hungary: Victims of alleged Pegasus spyware attack to take legal action against Govt – Republic World

The journalists, politicians, students, and other human rights activists,who were spied on by the Hungarian government are now mulling to take legal action against their government. According to a report by The Guardian, they were allegedly targeted by the Hungarian government in order to keep an eye on their work through Israeli spyware called Pegasus. This came nearly seven months after a consortium of news outlets called-- The Pegasus Project revealed the names of several top journalists, human rights activists, and opposition leaders of Hungary, who were allegedly targetted by the Israeli company NSO. The media report said they had tested devices of several people in a lab and found the devices possibly were infected with the Pegasus spyware.

Quoting the analysis found by Security Lab, The Guardian said the devices had been infected with Pegasus through a zero-click exploit. As per the Guardian, the zero-click exploit enables operators of the spyware to contaminate a phone by clicking on a dubious link. The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) told the British English daily that it will launch legal action on behalf of six clients: Brigitta Csikasz, David Dercsenyi, Daniel Nemeth and Szabolcs Panyi, all journalists; Adrien Beauduin, a Belgian-Canadian PhD student and activist; and a sixth person who requested anonymity.

"It is improper that the procedures of the national security services, which are necessarily carried out in secret, has become a tool of oppression rather than a means of protecting citizens," The Guardian quoted Adam Remport, an official of HCLU as saying.

"What we would like is for our clients to have direct proof of their being surveilled and the disclosure of the data gathered on them. If we can get good rulings it would mean that a new avenue for redress would open for anyone who has been secretly surveilled," added Remport.

When the news agency AP asked the NSO group over the allegations, the spyware said it does not identify its customers for contractual and national security reasons. Further, in a statement, the group reiterated that they sell their products only to government agencies for use against "serious crime and terror.' It is worth mentioning that US President Joe Biden blacklisted the NSO Group and a lesser-known Israeli competitor last week after several reports red-flagged the use of spyware in several people including top defence officials.

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Hungary: Victims of alleged Pegasus spyware attack to take legal action against Govt - Republic World