“There are several perspectives and lines of investigation here that we cannot disregard, as it is important to understand whether this data was collected from the victims, whether this data emerged, possibly, from an internal compromise, or, naturally, we do not equally disregard the possibility of a cyberattack on Social Security infrastructures, and that a database with usernames and passwords could have been exposed on the internet or the dark web,” stated the director of the PJ unit responsible for the investigation.
The director of the National Unit to Combat Cybercrime and Technological Crime (UNC3T), Carlos Cabreiro, spoke to journalists at a press conference at the PJ headquarters in Lisbon.
The PJ announced today the arrest of 45 individuals – with an additional two arrests following – as part of an investigation into fraud that affected hundreds of Social Security Direct users, who saw their social benefits diverted to the suspects’ bank accounts.
