February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Andrew Bushe
DUBLIN — A 17-year-old boy has been arrested and questioned by gardai after a security breach forced Eircom to change the passwords of 30,000 of its 240,000 customers.
The teenager was arrested last week in Wicklow and questioned under the Criminal Justice Act by the Garda National Bureau of Fraud Investigation for offences involving damage to computer data.
"He has been released and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions," the spokesman said, "No one else is being sought in connection with the incident."
The breach of systems operated by Eircom, the former state telephone company, was the first major computer hacking attack in Ireland.
Following the Aug. 17 attack, Eircom changed dial-in and e-mail passwords for 30,000 customers as a precaution. It said there was no evidence to suggest any customer mail or sites had been interfered with.
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Eircom is the leading Internet service provider through two subsidiary companies, Eircom Net and Indigo. It has 60 percent of the Irish market.