As per the latest reports the personal data of users of local Georgian telecommunications service provider has been leaked. This has been reported by the the company namely “ Silknet”. The company itself provided the information in this regard.
As per the officials of company silknet this has “probably” affected around 2,000 users. The Georgian service further reported that the personal data of significantly more than about 33,000 users specifically copies of their ID cards had been breached at Silknet and illegally leaked over the different online platforms. This incident has been reportedly took place on March 18, 2024.
After an appeal from a user the Personal Data Protection Service of Georgia has already begun investigating the matter in two different aspects the first the extent to which security measures for the protection of personal data were observed at company i.e Silknet and second is whether the company fulfilled its obligation to notify the agency of the incident.
Lado Svanadze the founder of the “Internet Development Initiative” a local NGO that works on Internet-related issues explained that according to the law on information security, to which Georgia introduced changes in 2021, companies and organizations are divided into categories.
Silknet along with other telecommunications companies falls in the second category which means that in terms of information security the company is supervised by the State Security Service in addition to the personal data protection inspector which is mandatory under the secondary category.
On the other hand the Silknet says in its statement that it is “ we are cooperating” with the Operative-Technical Agency of the SSSG, the cybersecurity regulator and has been designated by the Georgian Law on Information Security on the matter although it does not say that it is officially investigating the matter with the SSSG agency.
The cyber incidents in the past few years have witnessed the huge growth. The cyber experts across the globe are doing their best to curtail the threats for safe cyber space as well.
