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As a result of the scandal related to the wiretapping of phone conversations of several Greek officials, including Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, during the period August 2004 – March 2005, Vodafone was fined by the Greek privacy committee for not having protected its network against hacking activities.

The Greek Prime Minister, other ministers, top military officials, human rights activists, the police, army and intelligence heads, journalists and lawyers were illegally monitored for almost a year by unknown hackers through the Vodafone network. The action was discovered in March 2005 but the hackers behind the wiretapping have not been discovered.

Vodafone was blamed by the Hellenic Authority for the Information and Communication Security and Privacy for obstructing its investigation and failing to report the installation of the surveillance software and therefore fined it with 76 million euro.

Vodafone had deactivated the legal surveillance system used by the hackers too soon to trace them.

The Greek unit of Vodafone considers the action as groundless and intends to contest the decision at the independent committee of the Council of State, Greece's highest court of arbitration.

"Vodafone announced that it fully rejects the rationale of the authority and considers the penalty illegal, unfair and totally groundless" stated Vodafone's Greek operation.

Vodafone also intends to verify the responsibility of the Swedish technology equipment maker Ericsson in this matter.

The Greek Parliament is also investigating the circumstances of the senior Greek Vodafone official’s death who was found hanged a little before the illegal surveillance activities were discovered.

Greek privacy watchdog fines Vodafone over wiretapping scandal (14.12.2006)
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/14/europe/EU_GEN_Greece_Wiretap...

EDRI-gram: Government communication illegally wiretapped in Greece (15.02.2006)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.3/wiretapping