“It is our duty to further raise the security levels of all information systems, especially now that more and more services are digitized.” stated the Minister of the Interior Theodoros Livanios in response to a Current Question of the MP of the Freedom of Navigation Alexandros Kazamias regarding “the fines of the Personal Data Protection Authority to the Ministry of the Interior, New Democracy and three of its officials for the leak of e-mail addresses to the former MEP Anna – Michel Asimakopoulou”.

Mr. Livanios emphasized that “the judicial investigation of this specific case has not been completed and no conclusion has been issued. What we have in our hands is the conclusion of the Independent Authority that did the check.”

Regarding the fine imposed on ND by APPD for the leak of emigrants’ rmails, he said that “ND has the right – and as I read – to appeal to the Supreme Court to review the specific issue (section of the fine imposed on it)” .

The minister insisted that “the criminal part of the case is being investigated by the judiciary, which will investigate and reach the natural culprit. This is not the job of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but of justice”, which “has the appropriate tools to clarify these aspects as well. We, as a Ministry, have been obliged to further raise the security levels of all information systems, especially now that more and more services are being digitized.”

The Home Secretary noted that “the postal voting process was implemented in the European elections three months after the data was leaked and it was carried out absolutely smoothly” and “there is no reason to leave insinuations about things that have not emerged in relation to the file leak from the investigation of the Personal Data Protection Authority”.

The Ministry of the Interior said Mr. Livanios “after this incident, measures have been taken to prevent such an incident from happening again.”

Characteristically, he mentioned that there were greatly increased security measures of the Archives given by the Ministry of the Interior to the providers and couriers. Impact studies were commissioned for all of the Ministry’s core records (and not just postal votes). The Ministry has received ISO 27001 which is the basic certificate for the security of information systems and is being completed. At the same time, we commissioned the supply and installation of DNP software for file exports from an integrated voter list support system. The information system itself has been upgraded and it is no longer possible to mass process personal data and extract it uncritically. All the relevant infrastructures were strengthened while there were also cyber security and personal data protection training courses for the employees of the Ministry.

The Freedom of Navigation MP Alexandros Kazamias acknowledged that it is in a positive direction that the Ministry of the Interior has implemented the measures requested by the Authority and we will expect to see the result of the periodic checks it will make. He pointed out that “the Authority fined not only three people from the ND, but also the ruling party itself” and wondered “who is responsible for the ND?” Why does the ND not assume its responsibility and explain what it is going to do so that such practices are not repeated within the party.”

Mr. Kazamias said that the “Asimakopoulos scandal” concerns “the creation of a party State, with the leaking of information provided by the Ministry of the Interior to give the ruling party an advantage in the European elections”. He estimated that “the institutional controls have not reached the heart of the case”. The MP connected the case of the leaking of emails with the issue of wiretapping and stated that we have concerns about this.