Swedish municipality leaked ex-employee data 25 years later
Växjö municipality exposed thousands of former employees' personal data in a major breach. Records included information about people who hadn't worked there for 25 years, even deceased employees. The incident reveals serious data protection failures in Swedish local government.
Växjö municipality leaked personal data of thousands of former employees. The breach exposed information about people who hadn't worked there for decades.
Irene Nilsson, 70, worked as a nurse for Region Kronoberg, not Växjö municipality. Yet her details appeared online after the data breach. The municipality kept records of approximately 5,000 former employees against data protection rules.
Every Swedish municipality must delete outdated personal information. Investigations reveal Växjö kept records of employees who died up to 15 years ago.
Marcus Holmqvist, Växjö's security chief, said the municipality has plans for data storage. He did not explain why outdated records remained accessible.
This incident shows concerning gaps in Swedish municipal data protection practices. Keeping deceased employees' records for 15 years clearly violates both the spirit and letter of privacy laws.
Växjö is the administrative capital of Kronoberg County in southern Sweden. The municipality serves about 100,000 residents.