Istanbul: Turkey鈥檚 election authority has denied that a massive data leak which saw the personal information of 50 million citizens posted online came from its system, local media reported Saturday.
A database 鈥� containing Turks鈥� names, identity numbers and addresses 鈥� was posted online by hackers earlier this week along with sharp jabs at the country鈥檚 leadership.
The government said the data appeared to be that shared with different political parties ahead of elections in 2009.
鈥淓ngineers did investigations. Although it is compatible with the records we have, there was not any leak from our system,鈥� the head of the election commission Sadi Guven Guven told state-run Anadolu agency.
鈥淎 leak would be almost impossibly difficult. Our system is very strongly protected.鈥�
Ankara federal prosecutors on Wednesday opened an investigation into the data spill which risks exposing most of Turkey鈥檚 78 million citizens to identity theft and fraud.
The Hurriyet Daily News meanwhile reported that the justice ministry had begun efforts to amend the election law, so that personal data would not be shared with political parties.
This prompted the main opposition Republican People鈥檚 Party (CHP) to accuse the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of trying to 鈥渃ontrol elections.鈥�
The database was posted on a site accompanied by a statement pointing out weaknesses in Turkey鈥檚 data protection and accusing President Recip Tayyip Erdogan of 鈥渄estroying鈥� the country.
Local media said the site where the data was posted appeared to be hosted by an Icelandic group that specializes in divulging leaks, using servers in Romania.
Just days after the leak emerged, Turkey passed its first data protection law, which had been in the works for over a decade.
Turkey election authority denies being source of data leak: report
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