from MicroWave@lemmy.world to world@lemmy.world on 17 Apr 2025 11:46
https://lemmy.world/post/28345116
Budapest has faced EU scrutiny over the use of spyware against the opposition and civil society in past years.
Members of the European Parliament were offered special pouches to protect digital devices from espionage and tampering for a visit to Hungary this week, a sign of rising spying fears within Europe.
Five lawmakers from the Parliament’s civil liberties committee traveled to Hungary on Monday for a three-day visit to inspect the EU member country’s progress on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights.
One lawmaker on the trip confirmed to POLITICO that the Parliament officials joining the delegation were offered Faraday bags — special metal-lined pouches that block electromagnetic signals — by the Parliament’s services and were also advised to be cautious about using public Wi-Fi networks or charging facilities.
#world
threaded - newest
Wouldn’t it be easier just to circle Hungary with anti-spying barbed wire and anti-tampering minefields?
I wonder if those protect from the Israeli spyware Hungary has been buying.
Most of the Israeli spyware infects using zero days in messaging apps such as WhatsApp or the default SMS apps. So when you take the phone out of the bag you’ll still receive your missed messages, which would contain the exploit.
Fake phone towers are used to catch calls and textmessages in real time so it doesn’t protect against that either.
These bags only protect against exploits in the call/sms/wifi/bluetooth protocols as long as they are in the bag. Which you can also just protect yourself against using hardware toggles, and in some cases even software toggles.
They’ll definitely protect against real time attacks and fake cell towers as long as your phone stays in the bag while you’re in potentially hostile territory. Silent SMS or SMS from outside that might be spiked with malware by the local government won’t work if you’re outside.
Most cases (if not all) of Israeli spyware that infected the phones of people, was iOS, not Android. iOS seems to be more vulnerable to various attacks since it’s not open source.
Faraday cages don’t protect against specific malware. They block electromagnetic radiation or communication in general. The idea is to keep your phone inside as long as you are in a potentionally compromised net.
They should have basic flip phones for travel. Sadly most of us should now, especially protesters. Faraday pouches are easily opened and by law enforcement.
yea its better to use a burner phone, with none of your personal data in it.
How the fuck does a faraday cage do anything when the US can use existing backdoors on your physical device via USB to access your data these people are fucking buffoons
because they are worried about sneaky invisible attacks through wireless connections, and not about being detained. we don’t really have borders in the direction of other EU members
Kick Hungary out if the EU and be done with it. I’ve had it with those fascist leeches living on my tax money.
Fine if it gets annexed by Russia, it’s what they want anyway. They seem to have forgotten how they liked it last time.
If you’re in the EU, you probably retain an obligation to keep Russia from annexing Hungary even if Hungary were to hypothetically leave the EU, since there are also obligations to Hungary via NATO.
Aside from possibly Ireland and Austria, which have declared neutrality — and there are some disparate interpretations as to how this impacts EU mutual aid clause obligations — EU members are obliged to defend each other:
eeas.europa.eu/…/article-427-teu-eus-mutual-assis…
NATO members are as well:
www.nato.int/cps/en/…/official_texts_17120.htm
These are not precisely the same obligations. For example, NATO does not oblige other members to defend metropolitan France in the Pacific, whereas the EU mutual assistance clause does. The EU mutual assistance clause does not oblige other members to defend their vessels against attack in the Mediterranean or Atlantic, while NATO does. But there’s enough overlap that I’d expect Russia rolling into Hungary to trigger both.
EDIT: I’d also add that there is no mechanism to expel a member from NATO without them choosing to leave; probably the closest you could come would be to have all other members leave and then form NATO 2.0. There is also no mechanism to expel a member from the EU, but given the more-expansive scope of EU powers to impact member states, I imagine that the rest of the EU could probably de facto achieve the same thing by stripping a given members voting power (which is an option with otherwise-unanimous agreement) and then making their life sufficiently miserable using EU powers that they want to leave and choose to do so themselves.
My own view — and this is as an outsider, an American, so some of this doesn’t affect me, in fairness — is that it wouldn’t be a good move to try to eject Hungary. I remember some people on /r/Europe — well before Brexit — frustrated about the UK’s position on some matter complaining that they wanted the UK out of the EU. I think that the reality of a member leaving is probably less-pleasant than the hypothetical. I think that when someone is frustrated, it is easy to see the negative points of membership, and easy to miss positives. Among other things, Hungary leaving would create a deep geographic split in the EU, cutting off most access among other EU member states in the area, like
Kicking out everybody who doesn’t agree with you sort of sounds like fascism my guy, why don’t you dial it back?
You just roll in from stupid town? Defending yourself and cutting ties with hostile states is not fascism.
I don’t want to border Russia.
If you legitimately have concerns, why wouldn’t you just leave your phone at home? It does no good to have it with you if it can’t come out of a bag. If you have to have a phone there, just get a burner one.
Why would you go to Hungary to begin with
In this case, because you’re an EP legislator and Hungary is part of the EU.
Why is Hungary still part of the EU to begin with…
taking it out of the bag to use occasionally would make it far more difficult to target than being active constantly
Don’t they have to take it out of the pouch if they want to use the phone in Hungary?
Jesus. Any phone is a huge security liability. Cant be that hard to issue them with some decent burners. Anyway. Hungary can just buy the I formation from the 378 app that they voluntarily installed.