Food company – €100,000 Fine (Germany, 2019)
General GDPR enforcement action
This case relates to broader data protection obligations, not specifically to cookie or consent banner compliance. It is not included in cookie statistics or the Risk Calculator.
A food company in Germany was fined EUR 100,000 for not securing applicant data on its website. The data was not encrypted and could be found through Google searches, posing a privacy risk. This case highlights the importance of protecting personal data online.
What happened
The food company failed to encrypt applicant data on its website, making it accessible via Google searches.
Who was affected
Applicants who submitted their documents through the company's online portal were affected.
What the authority found
The authority found that the company violated GDPR by not securing personal data, breaching requirements for data protection and security.
Why this matters
This case underscores the need for companies to implement strong data protection measures, like encryption, to prevent unauthorized access. It serves as a reminder to businesses to regularly review and update their data security practices.
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The company had set up an applicant portal on its website where interested parties could submit their application documents online. However, the company did not offer an encrypted transmission of the data, nor did it store the applicant data in an encrypted or password-protected manner. In addition, the unsecured applicant data was linked to Google, so that anyone searching for the respective applicant names on Google could find their application documents and retrieve them without access restrictions.
Related Enforcement Actions (0)
No other enforcement actions found for Food company in DE
This is the only recorded action for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
Fine Date
24 October 2019
Authority
Bundesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz
Fine Amount
€100,000
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Food company - Germany (2019). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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