Data stolen from VIPs and footballers, Gratteri: "730,000 accesses by two unfaithful police officers"
'There are at least 10 companies, even located in the North, even in Emilia, that were constantly compulsory, requested information almost daily,' says Gratteri, 'it was hectic work'
"Unfortunately, what happened was that some law enforcement officers, particularly unfaithful policemen, sold themselves for money, there was a price list, and they went in front of their computers with their passwords and made abusive excesses to exfiltrate important data on important entrepreneurs, show business people, singers, actors, footballers, and then sold this information to the various agencies.
It is the prosecutor of Naples, Nicola Gratteri, who explains in detail the heart of the investigation that led to the identification of a criminal organisation dedicated to the theft of sensitive data and their buying and selling.
30 suspects
"More than 30 suspects were involved, including those arrested, those under house arrest, and those suspended from duty," explains Gratteri. "These were public officials and public service employees, unfaithful of course, who had access to their databases," adds the prosecutor, "for example to the Ministry of the Interior's Dis or to the INPS database or to the Revenue Agency.
The police operation, carried out this morning, concerned the provinces of Naples, Ferrara, Bolzano, Rome and Belluno. The precautionary order provides for custody in prison against four suspects, house arrest against six and the measure of compulsory presentation against 19 recipients. The offences of criminal conspiracy aimed at abusive access to computer systems, bribery and disclosure of official secrets are charged.
The two 'faithless policemen'
Also involved in the activity under investigation are two policemen who, with their passwords, acquired personal information of celebrities, from show business and footballers, from various national databases to sell to different companies. It is from their 'massive access' (we speak of 730 thousand accesses, 600 thousand one and 130 thousand the other) that 'the investigation started', as explained by the coordinator of the cyber-crime pool of the Neapolitan Public Prosecutor's Office, Vincenzo Piscitelli.
