Secret files obtained

Ministry of Justice hacked: Italian (24) in custody

Italian police arrested a 24-year-old Italian on Wednesday on suspicion of hacking the Ministry of Justice in Rome.

The alleged hacker is said to have repeatedly hacked into the Ministry of Justice's computer system and had the ability to block it, police said. The suspected hacker, an IT employee, also managed to gain access to investigation files that are covered by judicial secrecy, they said.

Complicated investigations
The investigation took some time and involved several public prosecutors' offices. The computer systems to which the 24-year-old had secured access included those of the financial police, the telecommunications company TIM and the space company Telespazio.

Giovanni Melillo, the public prosecutor for the fight against the mafia and terrorism, said that the police had "thwarted a serious threat to security" by arresting the man, who was originally from Gela in Sicily but worked in Rome.