Vodafone accessed almost a month's worth of private text messages on a journalist's phone including communications sent from numerous third parties in its hunt to uncover the identity of an employee who it believed had leaked information.

Fairfax Media has been told the messages were downloaded on a Vodafone "hard drive" and the contents shared in an email between two employees, one of whom now works for another telecommunications firm.

NSW Regulation Minister Victor Dominello believes Vodafone's attempts to lay the blame on a former employee are "offensively inadequate". Credit:Orlando Chiodo

Sources have also revealed that the downloaded data included the content of messages – both sent and received – over a 28-day period. Those messages were compiled and presented in a spreadsheet, a copy of which was supplied to KPMG, which had been hired by Vodafone to investigate other activities.

The development reveals the extent of the privacy breach. Vodafone last week told Fairfax Media it was a lone employee who had accessed "some texts messages and call records of a customer."