INM claims ‘former chairman Buckley approved data trawl’
THE publisher of the Irish Independent claims its former chairman, Leslie Buckley, was responsible for instigating the trawling of emails and data belonging to 19 figures associated with the firm.
In a letter to those whose data was sifted, Independent News and Media said it had been aware since August 2017 that data had been breached.
But INM said it had only now realised that it may have been searched ‘more extensively’ and ‘for different purposes’ than it had previously believed.
Information about the alleged breach has emerged after details were outlined in an affidavit prepared by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.
The watchdog, which has been examining INM for the last year, is seeking to have inspectors appointed by the High Court to carry out a deeper investigation.
Former Irish Independent journalist Sam Smyth, who is one of the 19 people whose data was searched, confirmed he received the letter from INM, but said it failed to answer many of his questions. Mr Smyth said: ‘They didn’t say to me what steps they are taking to investigate to establish exactly what happened, exactly who was involved, and why my data was searched for and harvested. That is really what I want to know. Why was I selected?’
He said the letter did not contain any new information as most of it has already been reported.
Mr Smyth, who now writes a column for The Irish Mail on Sunday, also said ‘there is still an awful lot more information we need to know.’ He said: ‘I want to know that as soon as possible, and I think I’m entitled to know about it sooner. [It could take] a couple of years for a full investigation from the Data [Protection] Commissioner and the ODCE.’
Mr Smyth added: ‘Two words are significantly missing [from the letter]: “sorry” and “apology”.’
In a statement last night, INM said: ‘The data security incident involved a number of INM’s backup tapes, containing back-up copies of electronic data stored on INM’s servers as at 2014, being provided to a third-party service provider on the instructions of the then-chairman of INM.’
The statement added: ‘The INM board only became aware of this incident in August 2017 and promptly notified the Data Protection Commissioner on learning of the matter at that time.
‘INM is taking these matters very seriously. INM is conducting an investigation and is also co-operating with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.’
Dublin-based INM also said it had not realised the extent of the breach until last month.
‘Prior to receiving the court papers from the ODCE in March 2018 in respect of the court application, INM’s understanding from the persons directly involved in this exercise was that the data recorded on these back-up tapes was restored and searched for the specific purpose of seeking details regarding the terms and value for money of a particular long-term contract for professional services between INM and a service supplier,’ it said.
‘INM has now seen documentation in the context of the ODCE court application which suggests that the data may have been restored and searched more extensively and for a different purpose.
‘INM does not know whether any such searches were in fact undertaken or for what purpose, but based on the limited information currently available to INM, it seems possible that they were. INM also does not know to whom any results of any such searches might have been provided.’
It added that it is ‘taking these matters very seriously’ and is conducting its own investigation as well as co-operating with the ODCE’s inquiry.
A spokesman for Leslie Buckley declined to comment yesterday.
Last week, Mr Buckley said he would fully co-operate with the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and ‘will robustly defence my position against each and every allegation’.