Steven N.
The Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party (MKKP) experienced a serious data breach over the summer by an unknown person, reports HVG. The party claims that it has fixed its loose data security practices, and has reported the person they suspect of leaking its data to the appropriate authorities.
Sensitive party data was uploaded to a foreign file-sharing site on June 24, including a half-dozen files and MKKP party documents with personal data on the party’s management, its Parliamentary candidates for 2022, and its election campaign strategy. According to HVG, the files were freely accessible online for at least a month.
A link was also published on two Hungarian websites, one of which also contained a letter written by the alleged uploader. If the text described there is real, the leaker may be a disgruntled supporter who claims to have been “cheated” by the party.
In response to the data breach, the party apparently disputed charges that it had not taken fast and decisive action, telling the news site:
We contacted authorities after the incident, and during the investigation we immediately started to develop a data protection action plan. The person suspected of the leak is not a member of the party, so we can only take substantive action against them through the NAIH [the National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information]. That day we prevented them from accessing any further data.
According to HVG, data leaks of a similar nature and scale to what MKKP experienced are exceedingly rare in Hungarian politics. However, the legitimacy of using party data as part of an election campaign is often disputed in Hungary in public discourse as well as in court.
[HVG]
