A computer programmer has been arrested in Greece for allegedly stealing the identity information of most of the country's population.

Reuters reports that the 35-year-old was found in possession of "nine million data files containing identification card data, addresses, tax ID numbers and licence plate numbers", which he was also suspected of trying to sell. The man's occupation has lead the police to suspect that he obtained the information through hacking, but some kind of accomplice working in government hasn't been ruled out.

Nine million individual files sounds like a lot. If true, it means that more than 83 percent of Greeks have had their personal information stolen. However, it's not quite that simple -- the police have pointed out that much of the information is duplicated, which isn't surprising. One "data file" might have someone's name and address, while another might have their name, address and tax ID number, for instance. Two files, one victim.


Also, Greece's unique political and geographical situation means it's hard to pin down exactly how many Greeks there are. The last

census, in 2011, recorded a population of 10,787,690. That includes both native Greeks and foreign immigrants now living in the country, but since Greece is, for many people, the easiest way into the EU, it also has a relatively large population of illegal immigrants. While most of the information in the databases will be from legal residents (Greek or otherwise) there are going to be some people without the legal right to residence who have also been victims of the ID theft.

Putting an exact figure to the number of people who have had their information stolen is therefore not possible right now, but it's still likely that a majority of Greeks are now victims of identity theft. Interestingly, while ID cards in the UK were scrapped in part because of the fear that having a single national database for the information of all citizens, Greek ID cards contain a bare minimum of information and don't rely on a unified database. That the information found in the man's possession came from such a wide range of sources might mean that keeping everything in separate databases isn't going to be as good at preventing cybercrime as some have hoped.

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