Dutch authorities arrested a 40-year-old man after he downloaded confidential documents that had been mistakenly shared by the police and refused to delete them unless he received “something in return.”
Police detained the suspect at his Prinses Beatrixstraat residence in Ridderkerk on Thursday evening for computer hacking after the failed “extortion” attempt, searching his home and seizing data storage devices to recover the files.
The incident began when the man contacted police on February 12 about images he had that may be relevant to an ongoing investigation. An officer responded to his inquiry but, instead of sending a link to upload the images, mistakenly shared a download link to confidential police documents.
As first reported by DataBreaches.Net, the man downloaded the files despite the obvious error. When the police instructed him to stop downloading and delete the materials, he allegedly refused unless he was given “something in return.”
In a Monday press release, the Dutch police said that knowingly downloading files from a link clearly intended for uploading constitutes potential computer trespass under Dutch law, particularly when instructed not to access the materials.
“If you receive a download link, while you know that you should get an upload link, it is clearly said that it is not downloaded and chooses to download the files anyway, then you may be guilty of computer trespassing,” the police said.
“The recipient can reasonably assume that the download link and the files that are shared with it are not intended for him.”
Authorities reported the data breach and launched an investigation even though they have yet to find evidence that the confidential documents were distributed beyond the suspect’s possession.
The Dutch police also emphasized that recipients of misdirected confidential materials have a legal obligation to report errors and to refrain from accessing or retaining documents not intended for them, regardless of how the materials were received.
“The police have no indication that the files were distributed further. They are following protocol for data breaches. The police are continuing their investigation,” the authorities added.
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