Hungarian authorities used Israeli spyware for mass surveillance
Investigators reportedly found that Hungarian intelligence and law enforcement agencies secretly used Israeli spyware called Webloc to conduct mass surveillance on hundreds of millions of people through advertising data, potentially violating EU privacy law. Hungary was the first confirmed EU country to deploy this technology, and licenses were renewed in March 2026 shortly before elections.
What happened
Hungarian intelligence and law enforcement agencies secretly used Webloc, mass surveillance software developed by Israeli company Cobwebs Technologies, to track hundreds of millions of people through smartphone advertising data, according to investigation by VSquare and Citizen Lab.
Hungary became the first confirmed EU country to deploy this technology. Licenses for Cobwebs systems were renewed in March 2026, shortly before the April 12 parliamentary elections.
Reported impact
The use of these systems raises the possibility of GDPR violations, as the regulations fundamentally prohibit such use of personal and advertising data.
Index analysis
The investigation also identified domestic intelligence tools linked to SCI-Network Kft., the company that obtained Cobwebs licenses for the government. The company received public funding to develop a Hungarian-developed intelligence platform called Quvasz or Q-VASZ, which was considered a failure by many: it was technically weaker than market alternatives and intelligence services rarely used it.
Governance controls
According to some sources, SCI-Network spyware was capable of zero-click attacks; other sources emphasized serious flaws in the system, noting it left easily detectable traces on infected devices and quickly drained phone batteries, suggesting poorly written malware.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.