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Bulgarian tax agency fined for failing to protect data for 5.1 million citizens

Monday 2 September 2019 09:24 CET | News

Bulgaria’s National Revenue Agency has been fined USD 2.9 million for failing to stop a data breach that leaked tax records for nearly all of the country’s adult citizens.

The National Revenue Agency says the breach exposed data for 5.1 million Bulgarians, including 1.1 million who are deceased. A Bulgarian media outlet reports that the agency plans to appeal the fine, according to Bank Info Security. The investigation’s results led the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office to file criminal charges against three men who worked for a penetration testing company, TAD Group.

The tax office breach occurred in late June 2019 and became known in mid-July 2019. The tax data exposed included national ID numbers, tax and insurance information and VAT [value-added tax] refund information, according to prosecutors.

The National Revenue Agency says the exposed data also includes personal data and tax information for foreign individuals and legal entities. For some, it included birth dates, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. Moreover, data on high-level government officials has also been exposed.


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Keywords: data breach, leaked info, online security, fraud prevention, tax records, Bulgaria, fraud
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