All employees of the province of Gelderland will be given the opportunity to apply for a new passport after a large-scale hack. That reports Broadcasting Gelderland. Earlier this week, the province announced that foreign hackers at an external company had stolen personnel data from provincial employees.
The external ICT company was shut down around August 18 chopped. According to the province, a “large volume of digital data” was stolen, including personnel data. The company was working on adjusting digital personnel files of 1400 employees.
“A huge amount of data was downloaded during the hack, so we don’t know exactly what was stolen,” said a spokesperson for the province. “To be sure, all employees will be given the opportunity to apply for a new passport.” About 1,600 employees work at the province.
Collaboration stopped
The possibility of a new passport follows after consultation with the Ministry of the Interior and was shared with staff at a special meeting last Thursday. The province pays the costs.
By applying for a new passport, employees can register the old passport as stolen. “If someone abuses your data, you can use that registration to prove that you were not,” said the spokesperson.
The province has terminated its cooperation with the hacked ICT company. Because the province has not yet been contacted, experts suspect that the stolen personnel data is ‘by-catch’. “There are also no signs for the time being that data from the personnel files have been made public,” the province said.
Immediately after the hack, the province filed a report. The Dutch Data Protection Authority was also informed.
The province is not the only Gelderland institution that has fallen victim to a hack in recent weeks, the university of applied sciences in Arnhem and Nijmegen was also affected. Criminals are now demanded a sum of money.
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