The Hacking Team fallout continues, as the head of intelligence for Cyprus steps down

By: Cale Guthrie Weissman

The fallout from the Hacking Team breach is just beginning. And now the first major government official has stepped down due to debacle. Last week the Italian surveillance company Hacking Team was hacked, and most of its internal documents were leaked. The leak included long list of countries and private organizations Hacking Team has worked with.

Cyrprus was one of those countries. And over the weekend it was reported that the head of its intelligence service, Andras Pentaras, has stepped down because of the breach, according to The Cyprus Weekly.

There are strict laws on surveillance in Cyprus, the paper explains, and some have argued that the use of Hacking Team's equipment may have compromised certain "data protection rights."

A government spokesperson, Nicos Christodoulides, explained to the newspaper, "In light of the revelations that surfaced with regards to use of a specific tracking system by the Cyprus Intelligence Service and in order to protect the integrity of the department, the head of the service Mr Andreas Pentaras has today handed in his resignation which in turn was accepted by the President of the Republic."