/ 28 February 1999

PHOSA PC HACKED?

MPUMALANGA Premier Mathews Phosa said on Friday that sensitive data has been removed from a computer in his office. He said the matter has been reported to the police for investigation after files on the computer was deleted. Phosa’s spokesperson, James Gibb, said the data was stolen during the past week. “The computer is linked to the Internet and e-mail, so it’s possible that the machine was hacked,” said Gibb, who would not say what kind of data was on the computer. The machine belonged to a key official on Phosa’s staff. Sources suggest it belonged to a senior researcher who helped prepare speeches and conducted in-depth research for policy documents.