BELGIUM: Prime minister Elio Di Rupo says his government will continue to fight cybercrime after newspaper says it received hacked copies of his personal emails

Record ID: 858194

  • Title: BELGIUM: Prime minister Elio Di Rupo says his government will continue to fight cybercrime after newspaper says it received hacked copies of his personal emails
  • Date: 31st May 2013
  • Summary: BELGIUM'S FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BUILDING BELGIAN FLAG BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER ELIO DE RUPO ARRIVING FOR WEEKLY NEWS CONFERENCE CAMERAMAN FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (French) BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER ELIO DI RUPO SAYING: "We as the government have approved measures to fight against cybercrime. We will keep on working on it. This way, I hope we can better protect citizens, businesses and associations. So, obviously, this is a phenomenon that affects me, but unfortunately is also a phenomenon which also affects all of us. So, we'll keep on working. This time, my work will be based on a case that is more than concrete." JOURNALIST TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (French) BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER ELIO DI RUPO SAYING: "There has precisely been a precise violation of privacy. We will look at this with calm and serenity." DI RUPO SPEAKING TO JOURNALISTS NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • City:
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Crime,Politics,Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVAC7X7EBGE5CJFV0DYWLNHTG4XL
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo on Friday (May 31) vowed to fight cybercrime after his personal email was hacked and sent to a newspaper.
    Belgium's national newspaper De Morgen said earlier in the day that it had received a disc containing emails from the private email account of the Di Rupo.
    Dating from 2004 to 2008 when Di Rupo was president of Belgium's socialist party and before he became prime minister in 2011, the emails were mostly of a private nature, although some did refer to his political activities, the paper said.
    It did not publish the emails.
    At a weekly news conference in Brussels, Di Rupo said that fighting cybercrime remained one of his government's priorities because the problem affected many other than himself.
    "We as the government have approved measures to fight against cybercrime. We will keep on working on it. This way, I hope we can better protect citizens, businesses and associations. So, obviously, this is a phenomenon that affects me, but unfortunately is also a phenomenon which also affects all of us. So, we'll keep on working. This time, my work will be based on a case that is more than concrete," Di Rupo said.
    Asked if he would report the case to the police, Di Rupo said he had not decided yet but called the hacking a violation of his privacy.
    "There has precisely been a precise violation of privacy. We will look at this with calm and serenity," Di Rupo said.
    Earlier on Friday, a spokeswoman for Belgium's Federal Police said once it had a report from him the cybercrime unit would investigate.
    U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Friday that cyber threats posed a "quiet, stealthy, insidious" danger to the United States and other nations, and called for rules to guide behaviour and avoid conflict on global computer networks.
    The topic is also on the agenda of a NATO defence ministers meeting to be held in Brussels next Tuesday.
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