In summer 2025, Hano, the infamous hacker behind the malicious DDoS attacks against multiple Hungarian independent news outlets, International Press Institute (IPI) and Die Tageszeitung, was allegedly caught by the Hungarian authorities.
Now that Hano is facing justice, this episode of the Media Freedom in Focus podcast series will review the time of the attacks and the implications that they had for the Hungarian media. With us, the editor-in-chief of Media1, Daniel Szalay, discusses the latest developments in the case and the possible motive of the attacks.
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Guest: Daniel Szalay, Editor-in-Chief, Media1.hu.
Producer, Editor and Host: Kasperi Kainulainen, Helsingin Sanomat Foundation Fellow at the International Press Institute (IPI).
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This podcast series is part of the MFRR in Focus project sponsored by Media Freedom Rapid Response, which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries.
For more in-depth podcast episodes about the state of press freedom in Europe, visit the MFRR website or search MFRR In Focus on your podcasts apps. The MFRR is co-funded by the European Commission.
Other episodes in this series:
- MFRR in focus: The state of Poland’s public service media
- Press freedom in peril: navigating elections and political turmoil in Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria
- Independent journalism in Austria faces a far-right threat
- Media Freedom in Focus: Untangling media capture in Greece
- MFRR Podcast: The battle over the future of Poland’s politicized public media
- Examining press freedom in Moldova after tense election