Data protection authority shows up at Tisza party headquarters

"After we delivered Christmas presents to the Szilágyi Erzsébet Children's Home in the morning, the puppet organisation called National Data Protection and Freedom of Information Authority (NAIH) showed up at the TISZA headquarters," Péter Magyar wrote in his Tuesday morning post.

The National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information launched an investigation in early November after unknown perpetrators published a database of 200,000 rows at the end of October, which presumably contained the personal data of the users of the Tisza Party's application and the data they provided during registration to the platform. The next day, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ordered an immediate investigation and convened the members of the government responsible for national security. Based on an analysis of the database, it was determined that "Ukrainian individuals were also involved in the handling of the data."

It was a pro-government news outlet that first broke the news in October that a file containing the personal information of up to two hundred thousand users of the Tisza Party application, Tisza Világ had ‘appeared’ online. The paper said it was clear that the application was developed by a Ukrainian company, but the party claims that they worked with Hungarian experts.

Shortly thereafter, several pro-government news outlets published a map showing where individuals whose data was in the leaked file lived, and a local paper published in the constituency of János Lázár, Minister of Construction and Transport even went as far as listing the names and addresses of some from the region whose data was in Tisza's app.

At the same time, the Tisza Party said: “The database isn't ours, and it includes a bunch of contradictions, manipulated elements, and deliberately misleading information gathered from outside sources.” Péter Magyar called the event “theft” and even went as far as blaming the Russian secret service for it. The party also announced that they would press charges against all outlets that published the map listing the personal data of their supporters.

The Cybersecurity Institute launched an investigation into the Tisza Party app, and the National Bureau of Investigation (KR NNI) also ordered an investigation against an unknown perpetrator on suspicion of an information system or data breach. Attila Péterfalvi, president of NAIH promised to conclude the investigation by the end of February or early March at the latest.

In his Tuesday post, the president of Tisza party wrote that since Attila Péterfalvi did not appear in person at Tisza's offices, he was only able to ask his colleagues questions such as: "What did the authorities do to prevent the government propaganda from listing 200,000 Hungarians' data based on their political affiliation?" and "Have you filed a criminal complaint against Fidesz politicians and propagandists for threatening civilians?"