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Russian hackers have stolen valuable data from the Foreign Ministry's computers - the Orbán government covered it up
An internal report, obtained by 444. hu shows the extent of Russian hacking operations targeting Hungary's Foreign Ministry. The document, written by the head of Hungary's signals intelligence agency in September 2021 reveals that Russian hackers successfully infiltrated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Contrary to official statements, which downplayed the severity of the breach, the report suggests that the Orbán government engaged in a systematic cover-up.
"The Directory service, the mail service, the file server service, an unspecified number of user workstations, including the highest privileged administrator accounts, which serve Foreign Ministry's systems and handle user identification and privilege management, have been compromised. The total number of affected workstations and servers has been over 4,000 and 930 respectively," the report reads. "The recent attacks have been attributed to APT 28 (Russian, GRU) and APT 29 (Russian, FSB v. SVR) through attack attributes." (The abbreviation APT refers to 'advanced persistent threat'. This designation is given to hacker groups, typically state or state-sponsored.)
Two years ago Direkt36 wrote an investigative piece on the security breach in which they revealed that Russian state actors hacked into the Hungarian Foreign Ministry’s network and even a secure network that transmits classified information. The report also stated that recurring cyberattacks over the past ten years have not been successfully countered by the Orban government. The Ministry and several Fidesz politicians denied these reports at the time.
Orban holds phone talks with Zelensky
Last week, Hungary's far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to Orbán’s press secretary, Bertalan Havasi, the primary reason for the call was to “review all important elements of Hungarian-Ukrainian relations.” Havasi noted that a significant topic of discussion was “the issue of war and peace.”
Zelensky took to Twitter/X: "We coordinated next steps to resolve the full range of bilateral issues in a mutually beneficial manner. We also discussed Ukraine’s EU integration.,” adding that they also touched on Ukraine’s aspirations for EU accession. “I am confident that Ukraine's swift accession to the EU will benefit both of our states,” Zelensky remarked. Orbán and Zelensky have not conducted a bilateral meeting in person for some time.
The Hungarian government wants to set up a military intelligence center in Chad
Hungary is planning to establish a military intelligence center in Chad, sparking concerns among EU and NATO allies that the facility could advance Russian interests, investigative outlet VSquare reports. Citing a Central European government official, the report suggests that Hungary's stated goals of “counter-terrorism and migration control” in the African nation are merely a facade.
“Since Prigozhin’s death and the disintegration of the Wagner group, Russia has lost some influence in Africa. We fear that this Hungarian military intelligence center could potentially serve Russian interests,” the official said. The source added that Kremlin figures, such as Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s prominent envoy in Africa, might have encouraged Hungary's actions.
Representatives from NATO and the EU informed VSquare that the Hungarian mission is not affiliated with NATO, the EU, or the UN, and was undertaken without coordination with NATO.
Company linked to Ádám Matolcsy buys luxury estate in Dubai
A luxury apartment in Dubai was bought for more than a billion forints by a company linked to the immediate circles of Ádám Matolcsy, the son of central bank governor György Matolcsy, investigative outlet Direkt36 reports. The apartment is located on the ninth floor of the One at Palm Jumeirah luxury condominium.
The investigation reveals that Future Holding Limited's contact details are linked to a company founded by Ádám Matolcsy and his ex-wife who was married to him at the time of the transaction.
The owner of the apartment gave an email address ending in glamorous. hu, which was most likely used by Tímea Matolcsy, then wife of Ádám Matolcsy, at the time of the transaction. The domain was registered by Glamorous Kft., which has since ceased to exist but was owned by Ádám Matolcsy at the time. The leaked data shows that Future Holding received a 40 percent discount on the purchase price of the apartment, which was still under construction at the time, and which could have been close to 2 billion Hungarian forints.