The data breach was uncovered after Der Spiegel magazine said it managed to access customer information via a third party.
Deutsche Telekom reported the theft to state prosecutors in 2006 but assumed there had been no dissemination of the data.Thieves got their hands on a storage device with the data, which included the names, addresses, cell phone numbers, and some birth dates and e-mail addresses for high-profile German citizens. The company said the records did not contain bank details, credit card numbers, or call data.The company said it had conducted "extensive research" after the loss occurred but had found no indication that the data was available for sale on the black market. However, it only brought the incident to the attention of the German interior ministry last week.The Der Spiegel report revealed that among those people affected by the data breach were members of parliament, ministers, former federal presidents and business leaders. The German interior ministry said it was conducting a risk assessment to examine the implications of the breach.Prosecutors raided the company's Bonn headquarters in May as part of a probe into allegations that Klaus Zumwinkel, former chairman, Kai-Uwe Ricke, ex-chief executive, and six other employees had commissioned a spying campaign. The executives have denied any wrongdoing.
