A member of PAFA, “Neo”, announced through Twitter the availability of data showing that the CEO of Riga Latvia’s city owned heating company, Aris Zigurs, paid himself a 16,000 lat ($32,000) bonus last year. Despite most of the workers getting pay slashed, Zigurs confirmed to Latvian media the data was accurate. Other data leaked includes pay details of managers from a Latvian bank that received a bail-out. It reveals that many did not take the salary cuts they promised.  Other data shows that state-owned companies secretly awarded bonuses while publicly asking the government for help. Only 50 percent of the Latvia’s 175 state-run data systems have security oversight.  President Valdis Zatlers called for immediate action to install proper security on all systems. Police chief Valdis Voins said Latvia has turned to other countries for assistance in the investigation. Ilze Nagla, a spokeswoman for state-owned Latvian TV, told the BBC the hacker Neo has attained cult status. “A lot of people perceive him as a modern, virtual Robin Hood,” said Ilze.  “On the one hand of course he has stolen confidential data… and he actually has committed a crime. But at the same time there is value for the public in the sense that now a lot of information gets disclosed and the whole system maybe becomes a little more transparent,” she said.]]>