Pair accused of Hubbard hacking

Two people appeared in the Auckland Youth Court yesterday accused of hacking into the voice messages of a number of people, including Auckland Mayor Dick Hubbard.

The pair, aged 16 and 19, each face five charges of accessing a computer system without authorisation.

The 16-year-old has automatic name suppression and the 19-year-old cannot be named as it might identify the juvenile. They were remanded on bail.

Other people allegedly targeted included Telecom's public affairs manager, John Goulter, and members of the police.

An attempt was allegedly made to hack into the voicemail of the Inspector General of Intelligence, Justice Paul Neazor.

But the pair reportedly accessed the voicemail of his son, who shares the same name, by mistake.

Detective Constable Timothy Traviss said the pair allegedly used a special Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software to hack into Telecom's 027 voice message platform.