Lawmakers demand inquiry into alleged cyberspying

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Opposition lawmakers in Hungary’s parliament have demanded an investigation into findings by an international group that the country’s rightwing government used powerful malware to spy on critical journalists, politicians and business figures.

The probe by a global media consortium suggested that militarygrade spyware called Pegasus from Israelbased NSO Group, an infamous hackerforhire outfit, was used in Hungary to infiltrate the digital devices of a range of targets — including at least 10 lawyers, one opposition politician and at least five journalists.

The results of the investigation, headed by the French nonprofit journalism organization Forbidden Stories, were published Sunday, prompting three members of Hungary’s parliamentary national security committee to call for an emergency session to question government agencies on their potential involvement in the spying.

Janos Stummer, the committee’s chairman and a lawmaker from the rightwing opposition party Jobbik, told the Associated Press that the surveillance described by the investigation is “not permissible in a state governed by the rule of law.”

The committee will question Hungary’s national security and intelligence agencies on the allegations, he said, adding that a majority of seats on the committee are held by governing party lawmakers who could potentially block the inquiry by boycotting the session.

“Our perspective is that staying silent would essentially be an acknowledgment that the government is indeed involved in this,” Stummer said.

The investigation, drawing from a list of more than 50,000 cell phone numbers obtained by Forbidden Stories and the human rights group Amnesty International, identified more than 1,000 individuals in 50 countries who were allegedly selected by NSO clients for potential surveillance.

NSO Group denied that it had ever maintained “a list of potential, past or existing targets.” In a separate statement, it called the Forbidden Stories report “full of wrong assumptions and uncorroborated theories.”

A spokesperson for the Hungarian government wrote in an email that state bodies authorized to use covert instruments “are regularly monitored by governmental and nongovernmental institutions.” Hungary’s Ministry of Justice didn’t respond to requests for comment.