Over 18,000 usernames in pol 'spies' (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, January 10 - Two persons arrested for spying on politicians, public administrations, professional studios and businessmen had a database containing 18,327 usernames, 1,793 of them accompanied by a password, and divided into 122 categories tagged 'Nick' indicating the target category (politics, business, etc.) or their initials, police said Tuesday. Police said earlier they have smashed a cyber-espionage centre that for years collected sensitive data on politicians, public institutions and administrations, professional studios and top entrepreneurs. The investigation, conducted by the postal police, led to the arrest of two people - a nuclear engineer and his sister. The arrested pair are residents of London but are domiciled in Rome and are well known in the world of high finance, sources said.