In a speech at the Progressive Party’s central committee meeting on Friday, former PM of Iceland, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, stated he knew his computer had been hacked, RÚV reports. He had it examined at the foreign minister’s office, he claimed, and said that signs of its having been hacked were found.
This was to have happened April 1, two days before an interview with him was aired on TV, in which his connection to offshore accounts, listed in the Panama Papers, was revealed. That interview set off a wave of protests, which culminated with Sigmundur Davíð resigning as prime minister on April 5.
Kjarninn reports that the office of the prime minister confirms Sigmundur Davíð requested his computer be looked at on April 1 to check if it had been hacked. “During a thorough search, no confirmed signs of hacking were found,” according to Guðmundur Halldór Kjærnested, CEO of the Operations Company of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Yesterday, Vísir reported that hacking of the PM’s computer had not been reported to the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police.
Theodór Gíslason, a computer security specialist stated in an interview with RÚV, “I find this sequence of events perhaps a little like science fiction, but there is an overwhelming likelihood under all circumstances that there are clear signs of a break-in if a break-in occurred.” Theodór maintained that computers at the prime minister’s office are no doubt well protected. No security measures are flawless, but getting through them is very costly. Few would have such resources. Besides, he finds it unlikely that large hedge funds hired computer hackers to attack the computer of Sigmundur Davíð.
