Hungarian opposition leader accuses Orbán of state-sponsored cyber sabotage
Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar at Hungary Day celebration, March 15, 2026 (Photo: REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo)
Hungarian intelligence services, acting on the orders of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, attempted to destroy the internal IT system of the opposition Tisza party ahead of the elections, party leader Péter Magyar wrote on Facebook on March 24.
He made this statement while commenting on a recent media investigation into a summer 2025 special operation.
"Hungarian intelligence services, following Viktor Orbán's instructions, targeted the Tisza party, which was preparing for a change of government," Magyar wrote.
"This case, Orbangate, resembles the worst times of communism and is more serious than the American Watergate scandal that brought down President Nixon."
He stated that the details of the special operation published in the journalistic investigation "cross all boundaries." Magyar called it a "de facto attempted coup d'état against a free Hungary" and assured that under Tisza's rule, the political masterminds and the heads of the relevant intelligence services will be held accountable for their actions.
The statement refers to a Direkt36 investigation published by Telex on March 24 regarding searches of two Tisza party employees in July 2025. Law enforcement officers reportedly initiated the investigative actions following an anonymous tip about the distribution of child pornography. Numerous electronic devices and hidden cameras were seized, but no traces of pornography were found on them.
The subjects of the searches were the party's 38-year-old IT security specialist and a 19-year-old IT volunteer who was recruited by an unknown man named Henry. The report states that Henry attempted to bribe the young man to create loopholes in the Tisza party's internal IT system in order to destroy it.
Henry possessed classified information about Tisza's internal affairs and its employees. Later, the party's IT specialists decided to expose the recruiter and his handlers using a hidden camera in a belt, but the police raid thwarted their plans.
The special operation aimed to damage or completely destroy the opposition party's IT system, according to Direkt36. The operation may have been directed by Hungary's Constitution Protection Office. It was this intelligence agency that initiated the searches, forcing the police to "take action." A specialist from the National Security Service also participated in the searches. Both intelligence services are under government control and report to the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office led by Antal Rogán, one of Orbán's closest confidants, the investigation stated.
Tisza is concerned that targeted cyberattacks could paralyze its IT systems ahead of the elections scheduled for April 12, 2026. At the same time, the opposition party has so far successfully defended its internal systems, thwarting numerous malicious actions.
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