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How an active position provokes an opponent to violate human rights.
German MEP Daniel Freund said that 2 weeks before the European Parliament elections, he was the target of an attack using sophisticated spyware. A detailed description of the situation was shared by the publication Politico.
Freund is known for his active stance on transparency and integrity in Brussels, as well as frequent criticism of the Hungarian government led by Viktor Orban. Freund noted that the European Parliament managed to prevent a hacking attempt that could have given attackers full access to the politician's device. In the run-up to the European Parliament elections in June, the Parliament was on high alert for cyber attacks and foreign interference.
The incident occurred on May 27, when Freund received an email allegedly from a student of Kiev International University with an invitation to take part in a seminar on the prospects of Ukraine's accession to the EU. The sender invited Freund to write a short message for the students and added a link that could download spyware to the recipient's device.
The deputy did not click on the link, which saved him from infection. Parliament warned Freund that the link contained spyware likely developed by the Israeli company Candiru, which was blacklisted by the US government in 2021. Candiru spyware is designed to secretly access the devices of activists, journalists, and politicians.
Freund suggested that the attack could be related to his initiative to suspend Hungary's presidency of the EU Council. Freund does not directly claim, but suspects Hungary of organizing the attack. The real source of the attack has not been identified, and a representative of the European Parliament declined to comment on the incident. The Hungarian Government also did not comment.
The incident has raised concerns about the use of spyware by European governments against their own citizens. The problem of spyware in Europe manifests itself not only beyond its borders, but also within them. So, it is known for certain that in Greece, Spain, Hungary and Poland — spyware was actually used against opposition groups, which is an alarming phenomenon for democratic states.
Source
German MEP Daniel Freund said that 2 weeks before the European Parliament elections, he was the target of an attack using sophisticated spyware. A detailed description of the situation was shared by the publication Politico.
Freund is known for his active stance on transparency and integrity in Brussels, as well as frequent criticism of the Hungarian government led by Viktor Orban. Freund noted that the European Parliament managed to prevent a hacking attempt that could have given attackers full access to the politician's device. In the run-up to the European Parliament elections in June, the Parliament was on high alert for cyber attacks and foreign interference.
The incident occurred on May 27, when Freund received an email allegedly from a student of Kiev International University with an invitation to take part in a seminar on the prospects of Ukraine's accession to the EU. The sender invited Freund to write a short message for the students and added a link that could download spyware to the recipient's device.
The deputy did not click on the link, which saved him from infection. Parliament warned Freund that the link contained spyware likely developed by the Israeli company Candiru, which was blacklisted by the US government in 2021. Candiru spyware is designed to secretly access the devices of activists, journalists, and politicians.
Freund suggested that the attack could be related to his initiative to suspend Hungary's presidency of the EU Council. Freund does not directly claim, but suspects Hungary of organizing the attack. The real source of the attack has not been identified, and a representative of the European Parliament declined to comment on the incident. The Hungarian Government also did not comment.
The incident has raised concerns about the use of spyware by European governments against their own citizens. The problem of spyware in Europe manifests itself not only beyond its borders, but also within them. So, it is known for certain that in Greece, Spain, Hungary and Poland — spyware was actually used against opposition groups, which is an alarming phenomenon for democratic states.
Source