Denis O’Brien (top) and Clockwise from top left: Karl Brophy, Vincent Crowley, Maeve Sheehan, Joe Webb, Brendan O’Connor, James Osborne, Jerry Healy SC, Donal Buggy, Jacqueline O’Brien SC, Rory Godson, Mandy Scott, Sam Smyth
Gavin Daly, in The Sunday Times, reported that an Isle of Man company controlled by Denis O’Brien – Independent News and Media’s largest shareholder – paid the bill for an IT firm called Trusted Data Solutions to gain access to INM’s computer network in 2014 without the board’s knowledge.
Mr Daly further reported that TDS accessed the email accounts of 19 current and former INM employees, including four journalists.
Further to this…
This morning.
The Irish Independent named 12 of the 19.
They are:
Karl Brophy – CEO of Red Flag and former director of corporate affairs at INM.
Vincent Crowley – former CEO of INM.
Maeve Sheehan – Sunday Independent journalist.
Joe Webb – former head of INM’s Irish operations.
Brendan O’Connor – Sunday Independent deputy editor and RTE broadcaster.
James Osborne – former INM chairman (now deceased).
Jerry Healy SC – a senior counsel at the Moriarty Tribunal, for the tribunal.
Donal Buggy – former chief financial officer at INM.
Jacqueline O’Brien SC – a senior counsel at the Moriarty Tribunal, for the tribunal.
Rory Godson – Former Sunday Tribune journalist, Sunday Times business editor and former director of corporate affairs at Goldman Sachs (Europe, the Middle East and Africa).
Mandy Scott – Former executive personal assistant to Karl Brophy and Gavin O’Reilly – when he was CEO – at INM. Ms Scott is now executive manager at Red Flag.
Sam Smyth – Former journalist at Sunday Tribune and Irish Independent. Mr Smyth covered the Moriarty Tribunal. According to Mr O’Reilly, during the final stages of the tribunal in 2010, Leslie Buckley telephoned Mr O’Reilly telling him that Denis O’Brien “very upset with Sam Smyth” and wondered if there was some way that Mr O’Reilly could take Mr Smyth off the story.
Sunday: Life’s A Breach
Meanwhile…
INM has STILL not contacted people affected by alleged email hacking.
I suspected my name was on the list but I had to call Mandy Scott at 7am this morning to tell her, to astonishment, that her name was in the paper this morning.
INM has had the names since March 23rd. #INM19
— Karl Brophy (@KarlBrophy) April 3, 2018
And, obviously, if what we’re reading is true, the Director of Corporate Enforcement believes that some people, inside and outside INM, have had the names and the emails for three and a half years. #INM19
— Karl Brophy (@KarlBrophy) April 3, 2018
Needless to say, INM and others will be hearing from our lawyers very soon.
I strongly strongly suspect we won’t be the only ones.#INM19
— Karl Brophy (@KarlBrophy) April 3, 2018
Update: Look Hack In Anger
UPDATE:
Former staff members were informed this morning that their emails may have been hacked by having their names printed, with no prior communication from the company, in a story that appeared on the front page of the Irish Independent @RAE_Stephen #INM19https://t.co/8KbsvGrXoB pic.twitter.com/2cIDIuBpw5
— Karl Brophy (@KarlBrophy) April 3, 2018