Secure communication

The phone conversations of ministers through familiar communication apps are not secure, according to a warning issued by the National Intelligence Service (EYP) to government and top state officials.

Data protection laws are not used to protect data but to hound journalists, says Veysel Ok, after his MLSA organisation exposed a massive data breach that the government has yet to comment on.

Election billboard for presidential candidate Milo Djukanovic in the Montenegrin capital Podgorica. Photo: BIRN/Samir Kajosevic

Presidential elections will be held in Montenegro on March 19, with seven candidates running for the office including the incumbent Milo Djukanovic.

Last month, Credins Bank became the latest target as the Homeland Justice hackers hit a private entity for the first time.

Authorities say they have everything under control and have banned media from reporting on the content of the leaks. But ordinary Albanians are increasingly concerned for the security of their personal data.

The data includes blueprints for weapons used by NATO allies in the conflict in Ukraine, and hackers were selling them online after stealing data from a major European arms manufacturer, MBDA Missile Systems, according to the BBC.
MBDA Missile Systems admitted its data was among the stash but claimed none of the classified files belong to the firm.

States rarely addressed the abuses arising from these violations, and in 45 cases, the perpetrators were not identified, while 139 of the total of 163 cases were not resolved.

Eight cases were the result of pressure related to the publication of information, 12 were linked to insults and unfounded accusations and 11 were hate speech and discrimination.

"The personal identity code provided by the National Revenue Agency to users is the lowest level of protection," said Atanas Temelkov, chair of the State E-government Agency addressing the parliamentary ad-hoc committee investigating the leak of the personal data of 5 million Bulgarian citizens from the National Revenue Agency (NRA), BNR reported.

New signal for personal data leakage. This time, the information was stolen from a large Bulgarian bank.

A prosecution investigation has begun, and the Personal Data Protection Commission has imposed a fine of BGN 1 million on the banking institution.

All bank customers must be notified if they have been attacked.

The personal data of 106 million people in the United States and Canada were stolen after a hacker attack by a US financial company.

The information was confirmed by its representatives, stating that the hacker had made the breakthrough, had already been arrested. Data indicate that the attack took place on July 19th.

Bulgarian Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov confirmed on Tuesday that hackers have stolen many Bulgarians' personal financial data by breaking into the country's electronic tax refund system.

Goranov insisted the data stolen does not include classified information and does not "constitute a threat to financial security".