Thiel: The switch to work equipment for the police promotes data protection, but it has to be faster
Police Messenger NIMes
The State Commissioner for Data Protection (LfD) Lower Saxony, Barbara Thiel, welcomes the announcement by the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior that in future it will only use the police messenger NIMes on work devices. Thiel had opposite the ministry in February officially objected tothat the messenger is operated on the police officers’ private mobile devices. In his statement on this complaint received by the LfD today, State Police President Axel Brockmann has promised that the “Bring your own device” (BYOD) approach will be minimized through the purchase of business equipment and “in perspective will probably even be completely eliminated”.
“The decision of the Ministry of the Interior to rely more and ultimately exclusively on service devices corresponds to my request and enables the use of NIMes in accordance with data protection and IT security,” says Barbara Thiel. “The complete switch to business smartphones is the best way to eliminate the risks of BYOD. However, I expect that the police will now follow their words with deeds faster than the statement by the state police chief suggests, and finally equip the officers with official devices across the board. The interior ministry’s current plans are far too hesitant to consistently eliminate the existing risks. “
In this context, the state data protection officer again emphasized that she had not objected to the NIMes application as such, but to its use on private smartphones. “In my opinion, NIMes is more privacy-friendly than many commercial messenger services. The lack of control by the employer over private devices leads to an unacceptable risk, since the respective user is responsible for protecting his smartphone from attacks and malware. This in no way does justice to the protection requirements of the threatened data. “
The LfD Lower Saxony cannot prohibit the police from using NIMes on private mobile devices, as they do not have the necessary authorizations.
Further information
Press release from 02/17/2021: LfD Lower Saxony complains about police messenger NIMes for use on private devices
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