site.btaSpecial Prosecution Service Insists on TAD Group Owner's Detention Measure to Be Behind Closed Doors

115 JUDICIARY - PROSECUTION - BRIEFING - NRA - HACKER ATTACK

Special Prosecution Service
Insists on TAD Group Owner's
Detention Measure to Be Behind Closed Doors


Sofia, July 31 (BTA) - The detention measure of Ivan Todorov, owner of TAD Group and accused of cyberterrorism, will be considered behind closed doors. The news came from Prosecutor Evgenia Stankova of the Anti-terrorism Department on Wednesday at a briefing in connection with the hacker attack of the National Revenue Agency's (NRA) database.

On July 15, a number of Bulgarian media outlets received an e-mail from an anonymous group of hackers with a link to databases containing personal information on millions of Bulgarian citizens and companies, accessed from the NRA servers. Two days later, an employee of TAD Group was detained in connection with the data breach.

Stankova explained that the prosecution service insists on the closed doors because the case concerns data related to national security, and the aim is to not make public information that could cause additional tension and panic among the public.

The supervising prosecutor on the case said that Todorov did not cooperate in the investigation and did not provide the passwords needed for decrypting the computer configurations that were seized from the company.

Ivan Todorov and TAD Group's marketing director were charged with abetment to cyberterrorism, and the employee, Kristiyan Boykov, was charged with cyberterrorism.

TAD Group employees testified that there was a purposeful selection of companies for copying their data. During the investigation, databases different from those of the National Revenue Agency were found. NRA employees were also questioned about what kind of data was leaked.

"About two weeks before Boykov was detained, certain data was provided to the Bivol website," Stankova noted, adding that there was a hidden chat between one of the defendants and the owner of the website, which deals with investigative journalism.

"Analyzed evidence shows that the attack aimed at creating social instability against the current political system," the supervising prosecutor on the case said, noting that there was also a threat to national security.

Stankova explained that evidence also showed a breach of the Parliament's irrigation systems server. According to the investigators, there was a plan to possibly activate the irrigation system in front of the Parliament and to create difficulties in movement when the cars of senior officials or Parliament visitors passed by the building. "Creating such instability leads to instability throughout the whole political system," Stankova noted. LI/TH
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