DT Reports on Data Misuse

BONN, Germany -- Deutsche Telekom today announced more findings concerning breaches of data privacy regulations and the investigation of additional incidents. The new Member of the Board of Management responsible for Data Privacy, Legal Affairs and Compliance, Dr. Manfred Balz, explained the incidents the company is now investigating. "Data privacy is now represented directly at Board of Management level: As the new Member of the Board of Management, I am personally committed to the issue," Balz emphasized. "At the same time, I extend this obligation to every manager and employee who has to do with the privacy and security of customer data."

In addition to data privacy and data/IT security, the new Board of Management department also incorporates the areas of Legal Affairs, Compliance and Commercial Criminal Law. The central task is to protect Deutsche Telekom from breaches of internal and external regulations. The new Member of the Board of Management represents the principle of a check and balance for the Group Security department and the operational units of the Group: Operational responsibility is being separated from the supervisory function, which is now in the hands of Dr. Balz. He is equipped with comprehensive rights of information and control to implement his strategies and policies. The new Member of the Board of Management has a right of veto over all business decisions relating to customer data.

At the beginning of October the Board of Management tasked Group Internal Audit with the review of measures taken within the Group in response to the theft of 17 million sets of customer data in 2006. A report has now been submitted. The investigations were in response to open questions generated by the most recent findings relating to the theft of data.

The report concludes that the measures initiated by T-Mobile in 2006 to recover the stolen data and to prevent its broader distribution, for example by quickly calling in investigative authorities, were correct, but that there were shortcomings in the subsequent organizational pursuit and processing of the case. Of particular concern was the supervision of the employees carrying out the investigation, the methods used and the steps taken to recover the data from third parties.

Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT)