Independent News and Media (INM) has written to the so-called INM 19 group of people whose data was allegedly breached to say that it was “unauthorised” and happened “on the instruction of the then-chairman”, Leslie Buckley.

Mr Buckley and his long-time business ally, INM’s main shareholder Denis O’Brien, are at the heart of a State probe into the alleged illegality at INM, including the suspected data breach.

The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) wants the High Court to appoint inspectors to INM on Monday over the affair. The watchdog alleges that a company called Blaydon Ltd, an Isle of Man firm connected with Mr O’Brien, paid the bill for cybersecurity experts to secretly access INM files, including journalists’ private communications.

In its letter on Tuesday to some of the INM 19, the company said there was a risk their data, stored in server back-up tapes, was “put at risk of unauthorised disclosure” to a third party in 2014.

“The INM board only became aware of this incident in August 2017,” the company wrote. INM added that last month it received further documentation from the ODCE alleging that the data had been “interrogated” and that the bill was allegedly paid by Blaydon.

Cost reduction

“Prior to [receiving this information from the ODCE], INM’s understanding from the persons directly involved in this exercise was that the data recorded on these back-up tapes was restored and searched” for the purpose of a cost-reduction exercise, the letter read.

“The [information supplied by the ODCE] suggests the data stored on the back-up tapes may have been restored and searched more extensively and for a different purpose... [and] the data ... may also have been searched for communications including reference to you,” the company wrote.

INM has told the people whose data was allegedly at risk that it is still investigating to what extent the data was accessed.

It said “the board was informed” last August that the back-up tapes were recovered and no copies were retained, but added that its investigation was still ongoing.

“We are co-operating with the ODCE in relation to this matter,” it said.

Mr Buckley has said he will “robustly defend my position against each and every allegation”.

The so-called INM 19 group whose data is alleged by the ODCE to have been “interrogated” includes several current and former INM journalists, such as Sunday Independent writer Brendan O’Connor, and Sam Smyth, a former Irish Independent journalist who reported on Mr O’Brien’s involvement in the Moriarty tribunal.

It also includes former INM executive Karl Brophy, whose Red Flag communications company is embroiled in a legal case with Mr O’Brien. Former Moriarty tribunal lawyers are also among the INM 19.