Gelderland County employees are advised to apply for a new passport. The county is doing so in response to a hack in August, in which the employee data of 1,400 regional employees was stolen.
All employees will be given the opportunity to apply for a new passport, writes Gelderlander. Gelderland County will bear the costs. This is a voluntary choice. A spokesperson for the newspaper said that employees who are concerned about their data can apply for a new passport. 1,400 profiles were downloaded by criminals during the hack. In total, the county employs approximately 1,600 employees.
Gelderland County follows the advice of the Department of the Interior. When employees apply for a new passport, they can register their old passport as stolen. If someone then misuses the stolen data, employees can prove they’re not themselves, says a spokesperson for we.
The hack appeared in August. This could have happened at an offshore IT company, with which Gelderland County has partnered. This collaboration has since been discontinued. Shortly after the hack, the county notified the police and launched an incident response team. It also acts as a source of information for employees. A notification has also been sent to the Dutch Data Protection Authority.