- Personal data of over 20,000 citizens reportedly compromised.
- Party plans to file complaints with law enforcement and the data protection authority.
- The data includes individuals who previously opted out of data collection – yet appeared on the leaked list.
- The Ministry of Economy is investigating the breach and has commissioned a forensic examination.
The personal information of more than 20,000 citizens related to energy assistance programs may have been exposed in a data breach originating from the Ministry of Economy’s registry, according to allegations made Monday by the opposition party Freedom and Solidarity.
Lawmaker Karol Galek announced at a press conference that he received a USB drive containing unencrypted files with the names, surnames and national identification numbers of citizens. The breach raises concerns about the security of sensitive personal data held by government agencies.
“The document header stated ‘List of people who expressed disagreement with providing personal data.’ Paradoxically, this is a list of those who did not desire the state to record their data. Despite this, they ended up in a database that apparently leaked,” Galek said. He likewise found data belonging to opposition lawmakers within the compromised documents.
Data Breach Acknowledged
The Ministry of Economy, led by Denisa Sakova of the Voice party, responded to the reported data breach on Monday.
