CyTA staff member arrested over personal data breach

A TELECOMMUNICATIONS employee and private detective were both arrested yesterday afternoon in connection with investigations into the illegal passing on of telecommunication personal data.

CID officers at Police Headquarters were yesterday evening questioning a 35-year-old employee of the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) and a 40-year-old private detective who is a former policeman. Both men are from Limassol.

According to state broadcaster CyBC, more arrests have not been ruled out. It is believed that the 35-year-old was allegedly passing on telecommunications data of a large number of CyTA clients to a third person, who would then pass them on to the private detective.

The information included incoming and outgoing calls and text messages for certain CyTA clients. The 35-year-old is reportedly one of only a handful of employees who have full access to the kind of personal data which allegedly ended up in the detective’s hands. The two will be brought before the Nicosia district court today.

Late last night, CyTA released a statement saying that in the context of ongoing checks to ensure the confidentiality of customers’ communications data it had identified the possible monitoring and/or disclosure of data of calls from a member of staff.

“All information and evidence collected has been provided to the police, who are investigating the case and have already arrested the employee for questioning,” said the announcement.

CyTA also noted that measures taken to safeguard the confidentiality of personal data “are probably the most strictly applied in member countries of the European Union”.

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