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I ain't in Spain right now. Case dismissed

Two arrested for leaking personal data of Sánchez and other politicians

The Interior Ministry calls the two young men, who were selling access to the databases, a "very serious threat to National Security."

Agents from the General Information Commissariat (CGI) of the National Police, in collaboration with the National Intelligence Center (CNI), arrested Yoel O. Q. and Cristian Ezequiel S. M., aged 18 and 19, in the Gran Canarian municipality of Agüimes this Tuesday for their alleged involvement in the mass dissemination of sensitive information about thousands of people, including the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, several of his ministers, regional presidents, and other high-ranking public officials, via online chats related to far-right ideology. They also leaked information about left-wing party activists and media professionals, as well as login credentials for political parties' websites. In a statement, the Ministry of the Interior described those arrested—who operated under the pseudonyms @akkaspace and @Pakito—as a "very serious threat to National Security." National Court Judge Francisco de Jorge has opened a case for these events, including cyberterrorism and crimes against high-ranking state institutions.

The two arrested individuals had threatened in recent days to continue disseminating personal data of high-ranking state and government figures, while offering their followers, in exchange for payment in cryptocurrencies, the "powerful tool" they were supposedly using to obtain that information. "With just one command, you can quickly access useful information for verification, management, or analysis, all from the comfort of your mobile phone or PC. Ideal for professionals who need reliable data instantly," they advertised, taking advantage of the media coverage they had gained from the massive dissemination of the data. All of this was done alongside the hashtags #noalacorrupción #españalibre and #sánchezdimisión.

According to the police, the detainees had divided up roles. One was allegedly responsible for obtaining and subsequently leaking the data, while the second was in charge of channeling the financial benefits of his activities through a virtual wallet to make it difficult to trace the money and preserve his anonymity. On Tuesday, the homes of the two suspects on the island were searched, where "numerous items and technical media" were seized, according to the Interior Ministry. The chats through which they disseminated the data—one of them had up to 90,000 followers—have been blocked, the last one this Tuesday.

The investigation began two weeks ago, when the National Police filed a report with the National Court stating that a document had been uploaded to a chat on the Telegram messaging app showing the addresses, telephone numbers, ID numbers, and email addresses (some old or incorrect, but others updated) of seven ministers—including the First Vice President and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero—and several former leaders of the PP and Podemos.

A day later, a second leak of confidential information occurred in the same chat. This time, data was leaked on other members of the government—such as the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, and the Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz; the Speaker of Congress, Francina Armengol; the President of the Generalitat (Catalan Government), Salvador Illa; and Podemos leader Ione Belarra; as well as on the four main suspects in the alleged corruption scheme that took root in the Ministry of Transport: the former head of the ministry, José Luis Ábalos; his former advisor, Koldo García; the former Socialist Organization Secretary, Santos Cerdán; and the businessman and broker, Víctor de Aldama. Data on 300 PSOE members also appeared.

Last Thursday, the third massive data leak was recorded, this time in a second Telegram chat with fewer followers—just over 1,000—because the first one had allegedly been blocked. This leak included information on Sánchez (his ID number, personal email address, date of birth, and address in Madrid), nine other ministers, as well as regional leaders such as María Guardiola of Extremadura and Juan Manuel Moreno of Andalusia, and former mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau. Data on 3,000 Podemos members was also collected. The new chat again included the data from the first two leaks.

The National Court has taken over the investigation, considering that this mass dissemination of personal data on the internet could be classified as a terrorist offense, following the 2015 reform of the Criminal Code. The law stipulates that these types of cyberattacks can be classified as terrorism if, among their alleged purposes, they include "subverting the constitutional order, or seriously suppressing or destabilizing the functioning of political institutions or the economic or social structures of the State, or forcing public authorities to perform an act or refrain from doing so."