Police charge alleged Vector hacker after customer information leaked

Police have charged a person they believe hacked into Vector's computer system last year. Photo / 123RF

The personal information of up to 24,000 Vector customers was allegedly stolen in the midst of a weather crisis before being leaked to the media. Sam Hurley reports.

Police have charged a man in his 20s with hacking into Vector's computer system and allegedly obtaining thousands of customers' personal information.

The man appeared in the Auckland District Court for the first time today. According to court documents viewed by the Herald, he is accused of having "directly accessed a computer system, namely Vector Energy Solutions Limited computer".

Having allegedly gained access to the system, the man is then accused of obtaining personal customer information without claim of right between April 16 and April 25 last year, court documents read.

The man was remanded on bail without plea and is due to reappear in court later this month.

A Vector spokeswoman said while the matter was before the courts the lines company would not be making any comment.

Police could also not comment on the case after the accused was charged.

Last year, Vector took legal action against a media company 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 Vector Outage App during a massive Auckland storm in April last year.

The information was then allegedly passed to media.

The alleged data breach occured in the aftermath of the massive storm, which left thousands of Aucklanders without power for days. Photo / Dean Purcell

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.

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

Both parties later came to an agreement, while Vector said it had taken steps to reduce the effect of the alleged hack 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 as winds ripped through the city at up to 140km/h, with wind gusts reaching 215km/h.

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.