Company that raised prices for municipalities fined €300,000 for data leak 0 20

According to the inspection, the data was stored in an information system serviced by "ZZ Dats". Upon receiving information about a possible violation, the inspection began an investigation and found the company guilty of failing to ensure compliance with its obligations as a processor under Article 32 of the General Data Protection Regulation.

For the violation, the company was fined €300,000. "ZZ Dats" has appealed this decision to the Riga City Court.

As a result of the data leak, municipalities received reprimands.

It was reported that "individuals" were able to unlawfully access some data from the Unified Information System of Municipalities between October 29 and November 2, 2024.

The incident directly affected 42 Latvian municipalities, excluding Riga. Individuals gained access to data about employees of some municipalities, including their names, department, position, email address, and phone number, as well as data about residents in the municipalities, including names, personal codes, and declared addresses, along with descriptions of files - metadata - from some municipalities.

After the issue was identified, necessary actions were taken on November 2 to adjust the system's security and prevent further unauthorized access, "ZZ Dats" reported.

Recently, the Latvian Association of Municipalities (LPS) sent an open letter to Prime Minister Evika Silina, Finance Minister Arvils Aseradens, relevant ministries, the State Data Inspectorate, and other recipients. The reason is the sharp increase in the cost of services from SIA "ZZ Dats", which has led municipalities to warn of a possible transition from an electronic to a paper document management system, which will inevitably increase the bureaucratic burden on both municipalities and residents.