But at night, when traffic on the servers slowed, the group downloaded large amounts of personal data belonging to thousands of Italians, including President Sergio Mattarella and former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
The security breach became a national scandal, rocking the political world and embarrassing the government, which is facing a parliamentary inquiry and demands for a review of its security policy.
“It’s bitter and hurtful for me and my family,” Renzi, who heads the centrist Italia Viva party, told Politico. “This is not the first time something like this has happened to me. But as an Italian, I am angry because this is a threat to democracy and privacy.”
As of Tuesday morning, four people had been arrested and 60 people were under investigation. On Thursday, an investigative judge is scheduled to hear charges including hacking conspiracy, corruption, illegal access to data and violation of official secrets.
The leak was carried out by a private investigation firm called Equalize, run by former police officer Carmine Gallo, under the auspices of Enrico Pazzari, chairman of Italian trade fair and conference management company Fondazione Fiera Milano. It is said that
Equalize infiltrated government databases through computer viruses that allowed them to control servers remotely, as well as elements operating within them. One of the compromised databases recorded suspicious financial activity, another tracked private bank transactions, and a third recorded police investigations. Mr. Karamucci, who worked for Equalize, reportedly boasted in the wiretaps that he had hacked the information of 800,000 people.
