Thomas Dang claims he hacked Alberta vaccine passport system using Kenney's birthday

An Alberta legislature member under RCMP investigation for hacking into a government website says he had a professional responsibility to do it.

And Thomas Dang says while he used some of Premier Jason Kenney's personal information to commit the breach, it wasn't identity theft because the information was already public.

Dang is the Independent member for Edmonton-South.

He has released a report he wrote titled ``How I Did It,'' which explains his cyber-breach last fall on the government's COVID-19 vaccine passport verification website.

Dang says he does not believe he did anything wrong and that he has a higher duty to protect the private online information of Albertans.

He says when he breached the site's privacy rules, he immediately stopped the search, advised his NDP caucus team, which in turn advised the government of the security breach.

Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley says Dang was asked to step aside from the caucus in December. She says no decision has been made on his future.