A new cybersecurity scandal is erupting in Spain: a judge from the Audiencia Nacional has launched an investigation into the large-scale publication of personal data of high-ranking officials in the Telegram messenger. Among those affected are Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, ministers Margarita Robles and José Manuel Albares, as well as members of the security forces and intelligence services.
The investigation was prompted by a police report mentioning a hacker known as N4t0X. This individual claims, together with like-minded associates, to have gained access to a massive trove of information on Spanish politicians using a special tool called SpainData. According to the perpetrator, the program enables users to find up-to-date addresses and document numbers of virtually any citizen in the country and to quickly track any updates made in government databases.
There is particular concern that the published data includes not only phone numbers and addresses, but also information about relatives—parents, siblings, and other family members. The hacker emphasizes that all these materials are made publicly available for free, claiming the action aims to fight corruption and not to create chaos or sensationalism for its own sake.
This is not the first such incident in recent months. Last summer, police reported a similar attack: at that time, personal data not only of Sánchez and his ministers but also of regional leaders, party activists, and even journalists ended up in internet chats with radical views. In that case, the perpetrators offered access to an information search tool in exchange for cryptocurrency, and soon after, two young people were arrested in the Canary Islands. Authorities then described their actions as a serious threat to national security.
Investigators are now trying to determine how deeply the hackers penetrated government databases and the true scale of the leak. There are also questions about how such tools ended up in private hands and how well ordinary citizens’ data is protected. Authorities have promised to take measures to prevent such incidents in the future, but experts note that the issue of cybersecurity in Spain is becoming increasingly pressing.
