Diversion for man accused of Vector storm hack after customer information leaked to media

A man accused of illegally accessing Vector's computer system has been granted diversion. Photo / 123RF

A young man accused of hacking into Vector's computer system and leaking thousands of customers' personal information during an Auckland weather crisis has been granted diversion.

Police charged the man, who is in his 20s, in August, the Herald revealed.

He was accused of having "directly accessed a computer system, namely Vector Energy Solutions Limited computer", court documents viewed by the Herald read.

Having gained access to the system, understood to be the Vector Outage App, the man allegedly obtained personal customer information without claim of right between April 16 and April 25 last year during a massive storm which cut power to large parts of Auckland.

The information was then leaked to the news media organisation Stuff.

However, when the man appeared again in the Auckland District Court this week he was granted diversion over the data breach.

The lack of a conviction, the Herald understands, means the young man can continue a promising career in the tech industry overseas.

He was also granted permanent name suppression at the hearing by Judge Robert Ronayne.

After this week's court appearance, a Vector spokeswoman said the company was "still working through the details" and unable to comment on the case.

Last year, Vector took legal action against Stuff after it claimed the company refused to return or destroy information it received following an alleged data breach.

It applied for a High Court injunction and claimed an unknown hacker accessed the personal information of up to 24,000 Vector customers through its app during last April's storm.

The data included customer names, phone numbers, email and postal addresses but not financial information, Vector said at the time.

The media company published an article on April 26 and approached at least one customer who had been affected by the alleged breach, television presenter Jude Dobson.

Vector asked the company multiple times to return or destroy the information, High Court papers show.

Both parties later reached an out-of-court settlement.

Vector, meanwhile, said it had taken steps to reduce the effect of the data breach on its customers including contacting those affected and addressing the security issue.

During the storm, Vector said it lost 40 per cent of its power network in just 15 minutes on the night of April 10, 2018.

Winds ripped through the city at up to 140km/h, with wind gusts reaching 215km/h.

More than 200,000 Auckland properties lost power when the storm knocked down power lines. Photo / Supplied

Power was knocked out to more than 200,000 Auckland properties, with damage severe enough for many homes to be without electricity for up to 11 days.

The storm also cost insurers at least $72 million, while figures from the Insurance Council show affected customers made more than 13,000 storm-related claims.

In a separate heavily suppressed case, Vector also spoke this week about another court proceeding it is involved in.

The lines company acknowledged it had brought a private prosecution against a company which it believes "behaved fraudulently in carrying out a significant project".

A trial is expected to take place in the High Court next year.

Vector said in a statement the criminal charges amount to an alleged fraud of more than $1m.