The latest data scandal involving the TISZA party could have serious criminal consequences, according to constitutional lawyer Zoltán Lomnici Jr., who cited suspicion of criminal misuse of personal data. József Horváth, Director of the Sovereignty Protection Research Institute believes that it could pose a serious threat if the data of 200,000 Hungarian citizens falls into the hands of organized criminal groups.
“Anyone who violates the provisions of the law on the protection and processing of personal data or the binding legal provisions of the EU by processing personal data without authorization or for purposes other than those intended, for profit or with significant impairment of interests, or by failing to take measures to ensure data security, is committing a criminal offense. The penalty can be up to two years’ imprisonment,” Zoltán Lomnici Jr. told the newspaper Magyar Nemzet in connection with the TISZA party’s data scandal.
The expert pointed out that it is also an important question from a political point of view how people can be trusted with their security and property if the largest opposition party cannot even protect the users of its own application. “If a political organization repeatedly makes mistakes in data processing, this gives the impression that it is unable to guarantee the protection of the information entrusted to it and that it lacks the minimum legal, IT, and organizational requirements that can be expected of a political organization,” said the constitutional lawyer.
He pointed out that such incidents have not occurred, or have occurred to a much lesser extent, among domestic opposition parties over the past 15 years,
which is why this unprecedented scandal actually shows that the TISZA party is a political actor unsuitable for governance.
The constitutional lawyer explained that the protection of personal data is a particularly important fundamental right that is also enshrined in the constitution. In his view, the current case also shows that legislation on data protection cannot be strict enough. From the perspective of democratic functioning and public trust, data processing for political purposes is a particularly sensitive area that every state must resolutely protect with its own institutional means, the expert emphasized.
Constitutional lawyer Zoltán Lomnici Jr. Photo: MTI/Máthé Zoltán
József Horváth, Director of the Research Institute for the Protection of Sovereignty, pointed out that the TISZA party is a political force whose goal is to form a government and lead Hungary. “The party’s reckless, irresponsible, and incompetent data collection is a remarkable and regrettable new phenomenon in Hungarian political life that has implications for public safety, national security, and data protection,” the expert told the portal.
“It can pose a serious threat if the data of 200,000 Hungarian citizens falls into the hands of organized criminal groups, as was the case, for example, when attempts were made from Ukraine to plunder the bank accounts of Hungarian citizens.
Unknown individuals gained access to personal data, which the Hungarian state is always responsible for protecting. We must eliminate this risk as quickly as possible,”
the Director emphasized.
In addition, there is also a risk to national security, as it would have unpredictable consequences if the data of such persons fell into the hands of unauthorized persons—for example, foreign terrorist organizations or secret services—who would then learn where these persons work and what information they have access to in the public or private sector. People in many parts of the world would pay a lot for this data, he added.
József Horváth emphasized that if Péter Magyar really takes data protection seriously, it would have made more sense to consult the Hungarian authorities before developing the application to find out whether commissioning the Ukrainian company could pose a risk. Furthermore,
the developer company is an official supplier to the Ukrainian army, which means it is under constant control of the Ukrainian secret services.
Fact
The Prime Minister’s Political Director Balázs Orbán also announced in a Facebook post that it has become known that the managing director of PettersonApps, the developer of the TISZA app, Oleh Ostroverkh, describes himself as a supporter of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and is a member of the supervisory board of the non-profit organization Defence Robotics UA, which was founded to promote robot development and drone technologies in the Ukrainian army.
The expert believes that there are dozens of reliable, excellent Hungarian specialist companies that could handle such a development in no time at all. Those working here in Hungary are controllable and can be held accountable if problems arise. Nevertheless, Péter Magyar and his colleagues commissioned a Ukrainian company, which is not controlled by anyone, to carry out this task. It would also have been expected that a Hungarian company would test the application before its launch to determine whether the application’s security system is adequate and whether there are any hidden bugs or loopholes that could lead to such data leaks, the director emphasized.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also commented on the incident in a video on social media after convening the members of the government responsible for national security issues. “We currently know with certainty that this data was collected by the TISZA party. (…) Based on an analysis of the database, we have determined that Ukrainian individuals were also involved in processing the data.
We have also determined that Ukrainian authorities’ access to personal data poses a serious risk to national security,”
said Viktor Orbán, announcing an immediate investigation into the case.
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Yet Another TISZA Party Data Breach Scandal: Blame the Russians and Orbán
Sensitive data from 200,000 users of the TISZA application belonging to opposition leader Péter Magyar’s TISZA party was allegedly leaked after a similar data scandal occurred in early October.Continue reading
Via Magyar Nemzet; Featured photo: Facebook/Orbán Viktor
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