A teenage computer nerd from the Canaries faces serious charges after being identified as the source of the publication on Internet of comprehensive personal details of dozens of well-known politicians.
The 19-year-old IT student hit the headlines yesterday when he was arrested in Cruce de Arinaga (Gran Canaria) by officers from the national police’s Intelligence Branch.
He is accused of gathering personal details – including home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and ID numbers – of public figures ranging from the country’s prime minister and nine government ministers to mayors of major cities and high-profile journalists.
The information, which also included the details of several thousand members of the Podemos political party, was posted in batches across several days on social media, particularly a Telegram with 90,000 followers. The posts were accompanied by warnings that further details would be leaked and messages calling on the prime minister Pedro Sánchez to resign over political corruption.
It was initially thought the leaks may have been the work of hackers working for a foreign power and an investigation was launched by Spain’s Criminal Court in Madrid a fortnight ago.
However, to the relief of the authorities, the probe has ruled out an organised network of professional hackers capable of knocking out key government platforms. Instead, police identified a lone individual based in Gran Canaria, who is said to have trawled multiple sites in search of private information on his targets and who is thought to have far-right political leanings.
A second teenager has also been arrested for assisting the publication of the information and manging payments from parties keen to purchase the data.
Following the arrests, both were flown to Madrid on a police aircraft to appear before the senior judge leading the investigation. They face charges of endangering national security and using cyberterrorism in a bid to destabilise the government.
Photo credit: istock
