DVI fined municipalities for data leak, but in Liepāja the wind also blows away password sheets
Thirty-six municipalities received a slap on the wrist for data leaks, while in Liepāja the wind has been blowing away all documents for years.
The Data State Inspectorate proudly announced that, starting this week, fines for 36 municipalities for a grandiose data leak come into effect. As it turns out, unknown hackers gained access to more than 25 million records in the SIA "ZZ Dats" system, including names, surnames and personal codes. That's more information than Riga City Council processes in a whole year.
Among those fined is also the city of Liepāja, which, honestly speaking, raises some doubts. As local IT specialist Pēteris says: "In Liepāja we have natural protection — the wind blows all documents into the Kurzeme sea, so hackers couldn't find anything." This is indeed an interesting argument — Liepāja's wind is so legendary, an uninvited guest in any season, that even passwords and sensitive data often disappear faster than a snowstorm in March.
DVI demanded that municipalities review their security measures and sign new contracts with "ZZ Dats". Twenty municipalities tried to appeal these decisions, because, as they claim, "we couldn't have known that our data wasn't as safe as downtown Riga at night". However, DVI remained as unyielding as the north wind at Liepāja port.
Liepāja Regional Hospital also received its reprimand and even appealed it in court. A hospital representative, commenting on the situation, said: "We thought patient data was as safe as our patients in winter — everyone is cold, but at least they're at home." Now they'll have to invest additional funds in security, which means less money for new bandages and more for IT security.
⚠️ Satirical article. Facts are preserved, but the presentation is humorous. For accurate information, please refer to the original source.