The department announced on Wednesday that data had been leaked in the ticketing system, which is used to process questions and complaints about climate bonuses at the climate protection ministry. 72 people were involved and the error has been corrected. It was stressed that the database through which the climate bonus is processed was not affected by the incident.
Due to an application error, data of a total of 72 people was inadvertently transmitted to the email addresses of two outsiders. For 29 people, the leak also included sensitive data, such as copies of ID cards, bank details or disability ID cards. “We regret this incident and we take it very seriously. We know how the error occurred and we were able to fix it quickly. We are currently informing those affected about the incident by telephone and in writing,” said Wolfgang Otter, head of the climate bonus team at the ministry.
The ministry has also informed the data protection authority about the incident. The two people whose data was incorrectly transmitted were contacted and agreed to be removed. The deletion has already been confirmed in writing.