Police have informed former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain that his computer may have been hacked by private investigators working for media conglomerate News International, according to a report from The Guardian.

Operation Tuleta, the Metropolitan Police’s investigation into the use of computer hacking by News International, publisher of The Sun and the defunct News of the World, is examining claims that the company employed private investigators to hack targets including Hain and various Northern Ireland civil servants and intelligence officers.  

According to The Guardian, the private investigators are believed to have sent their targets Trojan viruses attached to emails.

Meanwhile, the Leveson inquiry into press standards has heard from Ian Hurst, a  UK intelligence officer who worked in Northern Ireland. Hurst said his computer was hacked in a similar fashion in 2006 by investigators working for the News of the World.

Operation Tuleta made its first arrest last week, when a 52-year old man was arrested in Milton Keynes on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act.