Security shortcomings by Dutch press agency GPD exposed the private telephone numbers of politicians and other public figures to prying eyes until earlier this week.
Former telephone numbers of controversial anti-immigration MP Geert Wilders and an old (now disconnected) mobile, formerly belonging to prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, were left exposed by the leak. Current phone numbers exposed by the snafu included those of TV presenters Mart Smeets, Jort Kelder and Felix Meurders, as well as those of hundreds of other celebrities and media figures in The Netherlands.
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The exposed numbers were held on a communal database maintained by reporters at the agency. Technology site Tweakers discovered that the database was only protected by an easily-guessed password. Confidential telephone and other information was left open to anyone with enough nous to construct an appropriate Google search.
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