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Thursday 28 of March 2024

Bulgaria detains cybersecurity employee in tax data hacking


AP Photo,FILE - In this Tuesday, July 2, 2019 file photo, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov arrives for an EU summit in Brussels. Bulgarian officials say unidentified hackers have stolen the personal details of millions of people from Bulgaria's national revenue agency. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov called an emergency meeting Tuesday, July 16 of all law enforcement services to consider the potential harm to national security. (Geoffroy van der Hasselt, Pool Photo via AP, file)
AP Photo,FILE - In this Tuesday, July 2, 2019 file photo, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov arrives for an EU summit in Brussels. Bulgarian officials say unidentified hackers have stolen the personal details of millions of people from Bulgaria's national revenue agency. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov called an emergency meeting Tuesday, July 16 of all law enforcement services to consider the potential harm to national security. (Geoffroy van der Hasselt, Pool Photo via AP, file)

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian police have detained a suspect who is allegedly behind the hacking of the national revenue agency, an attack that leaked the personal and financial data of millions of Bulgarians and companies.

Police cybersecurity chief Yavor Kolev said Wednesday a 20-year-old Bulgarian employee of a cybersecurity company is suspected in the hacking.

The leak is the biggest in the Balkan nation so far. Local media say the details of some 5 million of the country’s 7 million people were stolen.

Kolev said the investigation is still ongoing and other people could have been involved.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said the well-educated suspect was trying to prove his computer skills. Borissov added the suspect was a credit to Bulgaria’s education system but he should have been working for the state instead of causing harm.