Tor Johannes Helleland hacking incident

In July 2013, reports emerged in the Norwegian daily newspaper Verdens Gang that a politician from Norway's largest political party, the Conservative Party, had been hacking the iCloud accounts of several young women, downloading many images, multiple of them being of the women being nude. The actions were discovered by Einar Otto Stangvik, a Norwegian IT expert, who worked for six months on his own initiative to discover the man's identity. Erna Solberg, the leader of the Conservative Party made a statement immediately upon hearing the news, urging the man to resign from his positions in the party.
Identification
On July 29, Tor Johannes Helleland, a 23 year old city councilman for the Conservative Party in the town of Drammen west of Oslo, released a statement saying that he was the politician in question. He apologised for his actions and announced that he would resign from all positions in the party, including his job as a social media communicator for the party, working at the party's headquarters in Oslo. He said that he released his identity to avoid speculation and harm to the party.
Helleland is the son of Trond Helleland and the stepson of Linda Cathrine Hofstad Helleland, both members of the Norwegian Parliament. His biological mother Jannike Thorsen is also a city councilwoman in Drammen, where she has served alongside her son for the Conservative Party. His parents released a statement saying that they were "shocked and appalled" at their son's actions.
Police investigation
The police in South Buskerud were tipped by Stangvik about his findings in January 2013, but they did not investigate the case. However, after the case emerged in the press, the police apologised for not investigating the case, calling it a mistake.
On July 31, Helleland was formally charged with hacking and breaches of privacy. He would not be interviewed in the days after the charging, as his attorney Anders Green stated that he was too depressed to participate in an interview with police.<ref name="autogenerated2"/>

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu