Who was sanctioned, and for what?

The provider of web-based systems for sickness reporting, rehabilitation and occupational safety incidents was hacked in August 2025; the stolen personal data appeared on the dark web shortly afterwards. The Swedish data protection authority (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten, IMY) found that, despite the high need for protection, there were no adequate security measures and no automatic real-time monitoring for attacks, assessed this as negligent and imposed 1,800,000 SEK.

Authority / court

Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten (IMY)

Area of law

Data protection · Data breaches and data security

Legal basis

Art. 32 Abs. 1 DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Telecoms, IT and software

Culpability

negligent

Published

22 Sep 2026

Original amount 1,800,000 SEK, converted at the ECB reference rate of 22 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

For seven months (October 2025 to May 2026), the bank continued to send a customer advertising via its app, although he had objected several times. The Italian data protection authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) also found deficient systems for implementing objections and inaccurate information about the processing, and imposed 5,508,000 EUR (Provvedimento No. 613).

Authority / court

Garante per la protezione dei dati personali

Area of law

Data protection · Marketing and consent

Legal basis

Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. a, Art. 12, 21, 24 DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Published

11 Sep 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Hospital staff opened a colleague's electronic health record to organise duty rosters during Covid rather than for treatment purposes. Technical barriers limiting access to treating staff were lacking; the Italian data protection authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) imposed 24,000 EUR (Provvedimento No. 616).

Authority / court

Garante per la protezione dei dati personali

Area of law

Data protection · Employee data

Legal basis

Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. a, b, c, f, Art. 9, 25, 32 DSGVO; Art. 75 Codice privacy; Linee guida dossier sanitario

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Healthcare

Published

11 Sep 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Since 2007, the municipal sports facilities operator had had cameras in the changing rooms of a swimming pool that recorded the locker area. The Italian data protection authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) found no sound legal basis, incomplete notices and a 72-hour retention period not justified by a necessity assessment, and imposed 8,000 EUR (Provvedimento No. 619); the cameras were removed during the proceedings.

Authority / court

Garante per la protezione dei dati personali

Area of law

Data protection · Video surveillance

Legal basis

Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. a, Art. 6 Abs. 1 lit. c und e DSGVO; Art. 2-ter Codice privacy

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Public sector

Published

11 Sep 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

In 2023, intruders gained access to two former psychiatric hospitals and posted videos of the patient records stored there online. An inspection of twelve sites found records with mould, water and animal damage in unsuitable rooms, up to and including shipping containers. Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) imposed a fine of 645,000 EUR, issued a reprimand and ordered audits and the relocation of records.

Authority / court

Data Protection Commission (DPC)

Area of law

Data protection · Data breaches and data security

Legal basis

DSGVO Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. e und f, 32 Abs. 1, 33 Abs. 1, 34 Abs. 1

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Public sector

Employees

10,000 or more

Published

2 Sep 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Attackers obtained the credentials of a user account with administrator rights through phishing and accessed customer data. The Romanian data protection authority (ANSPDCP) criticised the lack of technical and organisational measures and of regular effectiveness testing, imposed 15,728 lei (3,000 EUR) and ordered regular employee training, including on recognising phishing e-mails. Date = publication of the press release; according to the authority, the investigation was concluded in the previous month.

Authority / court

Autoritatea Națională de Supraveghere a Prelucrării Datelor cu Caracter Personal (ANSPDCP)

Area of law

Data protection · Data breaches and data security

Legal basis

Art. 32 Abs. 1 lit. b und Abs. 2 DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Other

Published

19 Aug 2026

Original amount 15,728 RON, converted at the ECB reference rate of 19 Aug 2026.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Following several complaints, the Autoritatea Națională de Supraveghere a Prelucrării Datelor cu Caracter Personal (Romanian data protection authority, ANSPDCP) found that current and former employees, untrained and without procedural rules, had access to extensive data (including health, family and income data), that data subjects were not informed under Art. 14 GDPR, that excessive data were collected and that automated advertising calls were made without consent. Fines: 78,465 lei (15,000 EUR, Art. 32(4)), 52,310 lei (10,000 EUR, Art. 14), 104,620 lei (20,000 EUR, Art. 5/9 GDPR) and 50,000 lei (Law 506/2004); in addition, an order to provide regular employee training. Date = publication of the press release; according to the authority, the investigation was concluded in June 2026.

Authority / court

Autoritatea Națională de Supraveghere a Prelucrării Datelor cu Caracter Personal (ANSPDCP)

Area of law

Data protection · Marketing and consent

Legal basis

Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. c i. V. m. Art. 9, Art. 14, Art. 32 Abs. 4 DSGVO; Art. 12 Abs. 1 Gesetz 506/2004

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Other

Published

6 Aug 2026

Original amount 285,395 RON, converted at the ECB reference rate of 6 Aug 2026.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

A large-scale breach affected EETAA information systems used to implement programmes of the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family; identification, contact, financial and health data of a large number of people were affected. The Archi Prostasias Dedomenon (Hellenic Data Protection Authority) attributed the success of the attack to outdated systems and inadequate security measures and criticised the absence of a data processing agreement. In Decision 15/2026 it imposed a total of EUR 350,000 (ministry EUR 150,000 under Art. 5(1)(f)/Art. 32 and EUR 50,000 under Art. 28(3) GDPR; EETAA EUR 100,000 under Art. 32 and EUR 50,000 under Art. 28(3) GDPR) and ordered the agreement to be concluded and the planned security measures implemented within one month.

Authority / court

Αρχή Προστασίας Δεδομένων Προσωπικού Χαρακτήρα (Hellenic Data Protection Authority)

Area of law

Data protection · Data breaches and data security

Legal basis

Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. f, Art. 28 Abs. 3, Art. 32 Abs. 1, Art. 58 Abs. 2 lit. d und i DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Public sector

Mitigating circumstances

According to the authority, the ministry met its breach notification and communication obligations.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Direct link

The Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency) imposed fines totalling 34,327 EUR on a call centre that mainly marketed telecoms products: 32,000 EUR for unlawful telephone advertising and 2,327 EUR because consents to sales calls had not been fully documented. The campaign continued despite the gaps and requests to stop calling were sometimes ignored; the company has appealed.

Authority / court

Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA)

Area of law

Data protection · Marketing and consent

Legal basis

UWG – Verbot unerlaubter Telefonwerbung gegenüber Verbraucherinnen und Verbrauchern; § 7a UWG (Dokumentation und Aufbewahrung von Einwilligungen)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

under appeal

Sector

Other

Checked against the official source on 2 Oct 2026 · Direct link

The Garante (Italian data protection authority) fined TIM 9,516,000 EUR because call centres outside the official sales network made promotional calls on the company's behalf using numbers not recorded in the operators' register ROC or falsified numbers (spoofing), often to lines entered in the do-not-call register, and the contacts obtained in this way reached its systems as apparently lawful leads via fictitious call-back requests on sales partners' web forms. The authority found that TIM had selected and supervised its sales partners inadequately and had systematically failed to answer, or answered late, requests for access, erasure and objection. In addition, TIM must secure its lead process, strengthen oversight of the sales chain and adapt its procedures for data subject rights.

Authority / court

Garante per la protezione dei dati personali

Area of law

Data protection · Marketing and consent

Legal basis

Art. 5, 6, 7, 12, 15–22, 24, 25, 28 und 32 DSGVO; Art. 130 Codice in materia di protezione dei dati personali (D.Lgs. 196/2003)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Telecoms, IT and software

Employees

10,000 or more

Culpability

negligent

Repeat case

yes

Mitigating circumstances

Taken into account as mitigating: short period and limited number of data subjects, measures taken during the proceedings (including checks on and termination of contracts with partners), a high level of cooperation, no special categories of personal data, adherence to the telemarketing code of conduct and substantial investment in controlling the sales chain.

Published

31 Jul 2026

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Direct link

In summer 2025, an attacker gained access to the private hospital's electronic patient record system and obtained data on 524,867 patients and 202,246 trusted persons. There was no VPN or multi-factor authentication for external users, no appropriate access control and no detection of suspicious activity; the trusted persons were not notified. France's data protection authority (Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés, CNIL) imposed a fine of 500,000 EUR (SAN-2026-009).

Authority / court

Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL)

Area of law

Data protection · Data breaches and data security

Legal basis

DSGVO Art. 32, Art. 34

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Healthcare

Published

3 Sep 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

The CNIL (French data protection authority) fined the IT and engineering consultancy EXTIA EUR 300,000 because, of 265 erasure requests received in 2024 – mostly from job applicants, occasionally from former employees – 12 were not processed at all and 166 applicants were not told of the outcome; 27 received their reply only after the one-month deadline. The CNIL regarded this as particularly negligent, especially as the company had already been reminded of its obligations by the CNIL twice in 2024 (Art. 12 and 17 GDPR).

Authority / court

Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL), formation restreinte

Area of law

Data protection · Data subject rights and transparency

Legal basis

Art. 12 und 17 DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Telecoms, IT and software

Employees

1,000 to 9,999

Culpability

negligent

Repeat case

yes

Mitigating circumstances

During the proceedings the company deleted the data concerned and informed the applicants retrospectively.

Published

9 Sep 2026

Checked against the official source on 2 Oct 2026 · Direct link

A synchronisation error between two applications allowed a customer to retrieve other customers’ invoices in the mobile app; in addition, the ticketing platform, which was publicly accessible without VPN, MFA or IP restriction, was attacked and a very large data set (including copies of identity documents, card data, IBANs) was exfiltrated. The Romanian data protection authority (ANSPDCP) imposed fines of 104,780 lei (20,000 EUR, Art. 25) and 419,120 lei (80,000 EUR, Art. 32), a total of 523,900 lei, and ordered test and change management. Date = publication of the press release; according to the authority, the investigation was concluded in the previous month.

Authority / court

Autoritatea Națională de Supraveghere a Prelucrării Datelor cu Caracter Personal (ANSPDCP)

Area of law

Data protection · Data breaches and data security

Legal basis

Art. 25 Abs. 1, Art. 32 Abs. 1 lit. b und d, Abs. 2 und 4 DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Telecoms, IT and software

Published

17 Jul 2026

Original amount 523,900 RON, converted at the ECB reference rate of 17 Jul 2026.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

From May to the end of August 2024, the public hospital accidentally published on its website a surgery list containing patients' telephone numbers, illnesses and planned procedures; a member of the public found the document via Google. The Hellenic Data Protection Authority imposed a total of 25,000 EUR: 10,000 EUR for inadequate security, 2,000 EUR for the late notification, 10,000 EUR for failing to notify the data subjects and 3,000 EUR for missing contact details of the data protection officer (DPO).

Authority / court

Αρχή Προστασίας Δεδομένων Προσωπικού Χαρακτήρα (Hellenic Data Protection Authority)

Area of law

Data protection · Data breaches and data security

Legal basis

DSGVO Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. f, 32 Abs. 1, 33 Abs. 1, 34 Abs. 1, 12, 13 i. V. m. 37 (Entscheidung 13/2026)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Healthcare

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

The data protection authority had prohibited a company from tracking its three company vehicles continuously by GPS and ordered the data to be erased; narrow purposes such as theft protection while parked remained permitted. The Upravno sodišče Republike Slovenije (Administrative Court of the Republic of Slovenia) upheld this and clarified that employee consent bundled with other declarations is invalid.

Authority / court

Upravno sodišče Republike Slovenije (bekanntgemacht durch den Informacijski pooblaščenec)

Area of law

Data protection · Employee data

Legal basis

Art. 6 Abs. 1 lit. f, Art. 7 Abs. 2 DSGVO

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Transport, logistics and shipping

Published

7 Jul 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

The Garante (Italian data protection authority) fined the US operator of the generative AI service Character.AI, on which users – including minors – chat with virtual characters, 158,000 EUR, among other things for deficient privacy information, a data protection impact assessment prepared late and the late appointment of a representative in the EU. It also criticised weaknesses in the protection of minors and in age verification; within 120 days the company must ensure working age verification, an effective cooling-off period preventing blocked minors from re-registering and private-by-default profiles for minors.

Authority / court

Garante per la protezione dei dati personali

Area of law

Data protection · Data subject rights and transparency

Legal basis

Art. 5 Abs. 2, 12 Abs. 1, 13 Abs. 1 und 2, 14 Abs. 1 und 2, 24 Abs. 1, 25 Abs. 2, 27 Abs. 1 und 35 Abs. 1 DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Telecoms, IT and software

Culpability

negligent

Repeat case

no

Mitigating circumstances

Mitigating: progressively strengthened age checks (a dedicated service for minors, age verification by a third-party provider), no previous relevant infringements, cooperation and amendments to the privacy policy during the proceedings.

Published

9 Jul 2026

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Direct link

At the request of a third party and outside the scope of his duties, a bank employee retrieved account statements of a data subject (name, IBAN, transactions, balances). The Romanian data protection authority (ANSPDCP) found insufficient technical and organisational measures and imposed 26,172 lei (5,000 EUR); the bank has paid the fine. Date = publication of the press release; according to the authority, the investigation was concluded in the previous month.

Authority / court

Autoritatea Națională de Supraveghere a Prelucrării Datelor cu Caracter Personal (ANSPDCP)

Area of law

Data protection · Data breaches and data security

Legal basis

Art. 32 Abs. 1, 2 und 4 DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Published

2 Jul 2026

Original amount 26,172 RON, converted at the ECB reference rate of 2 Jul 2026.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

In a targeted inspection of cookies on company websites, the Datu valsts inspekcija (Latvian Data State Inspectorate, DVI) found fault with the site 4mebeles.lv. After a reprimand in February 2026, the company claimed that the deficiencies had been remedied, which a further inspection disproved; further requests for information went unanswered. The DVI imposed 1,000 EUR for failure to cooperate and requested the missing information by 3 August 2026.

Authority / court

Datu valsts inspekcija (DVI)

Area of law

Data protection · Cookies and tracking

Legal basis

Art. 58 Abs. 1, Art. 83 Abs. 5 lit. e DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Retail and e-commerce

Culpability

intentional

Repeat case

yes

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

The company had stored statistically calculated ‘party affinities’ for around 2.2 million people and in some cases sold them to advertising clients – special categories of personal data without consent; in addition, parcel frequency data was further processed for incompatible purposes. The Austrian Data Protection Authority (Datenschutzbehörde, DSB) had imposed 18 million EUR in 2019 and the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht, BVwG) 16 million EUR in 2024; Austria's Supreme Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof, VwGH) has now set the fine with final effect at 13 million EUR (plus 100,000 EUR in procedural costs).

Authority / court

Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Ausgangsbescheid: Datenschutzbehörde)

Area of law

Data protection · Marketing and consent

Legal basis

DSGVO Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. a und b, Art. 6 Abs. 4, Art. 9 Abs. 1 (VwGH Ro 2025/04/0007)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

reduced

Sector

Other

Culpability

negligent

Mitigating circumstances

Comprehensive cooperation, deletion of the party affinities, settlements with data subjects, long duration of proceedings (5 years, 10 months).

Published

16 Jul 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

The security services provider used cameras in vehicles through which personal data was processed without any legal basis for doing so. The Swedish data protection authority (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten, IMY) issued a reprimand under Art. 58 GDPR; no fine was imposed.

Authority / court

Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten (IMY)

Area of law

Data protection · Video surveillance

Legal basis

DSGVO Art. 6 Abs. 1

Action

Reprimand or warning

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Defence and security

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link