Security probes Net leak

WELLINGTON - Security officials are investigating how confidential phone numbers for the Prime Minister and Security Intelligence Service director were leaked to an Internet site.

The list of confidential numbers appeared on a United States site with links to at least two New Zealand sites, although one has since been removed. The police diplomatic protection squad and SIS were understood yesterday to be investigating.

Office, cellphone, pager and limousine numbers for Jenny Shipley were displayed, as were numbers for Premier House.

Contact numbers for Mrs Shipley's senior staff and key National party numbers were also published. The Prime Minister told reporters yesterday that she was not concerned by the leak.

"It's honestly no big deal."

A spokesman for her office said it was "quite an old list from what we can tell."

The Wellington-based Internet news outlet Scoop initially published a link to the list, but removed it when it realised the material was sensitive.

An Auckland man who admitted posting the numbers, Phil Doherty, said a friend alerted him to the phone list, which was already on the Internet at a different address, and he decided to include it on his Web page.

- NZPA