Ecuador has begun an investigation into a sprawling data breach in which the personal data of up to 20 million people, more than the country’s population, was made available online.

The inquiry began after vpnMentor, an internet security firm, alerted the authorities to the enormous security failure, which included the exposure of the data of adults and children, both dead and alive. Ecuador has a population of over 16 million people.

A statement from the attorney general on Monday did not indicate whether anyone had gained access to the data while it had been vulnerable.

Ecuadorean officials said in a statement on Tuesday that they had detained a man identified as William Roberto G., whom they described as the legal representative of Novaestrat, a small online data consulting firm in the city of Esmeraldas, and taken him for questioning in the capital, Quito.