Another day. another major data leak. This time, it comes from the country of Malta whose Lands Authority saw highly sensitive information exposed.
There’s been multiple blockbuster data leaks as of late. Previously, we reported on retail giant Amazon suffering a data leak. Yesterday, we learned of Brazils FIESP suffering a data leak that measures at least roughly 35 million records. Now, we are learning about yet another data leak.
This time, the data leakage comes from the Malta Lands Authority. Reports suggest the information weighs in at a sizable 10GB. The leakage saw not only individual’s personal information exposed, but potentially businesses as well. The information in question could be accessed through simple Google searches. From the Times of Malta:
Identity card details, e-mail correspondence, affidavits and other compromising data were made easily searchable on the internet thanks to the security flaw in the Land Authority’s website.
Much of the data contained highly sensitive correspondence between individuals and the authority.
An IT expert who spoke to Times of Malta said the security flaws had likely been in place ever since the Land Authority’s inception in early 2017.
The website was taken down within hours of Times of Malta flagging the breach to the Data Protection Commissioner on Friday.
The article goes on to say that the Malta Lands Authority is initiating an investigation into the leak.
The country of Malta is located within the European Union. As such, it is subject to the GDPR laws. As such, it is possible that the Lands Authority could be subject to hefty fines for not adequately safeguarding people’s personal information. Whether or not that comes to pass remains to be seen.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
