Finland’s Government Hit by Major Data Breach Affecting 50,000 Employees A significant cybersecurity breach at Finland’s State Centre for ICT Services (Valtori) has exposed work-related data of up to 50,000 government employees, including staff across all ministries. The incident, detected on 30 January, was publicly disclosed last week as investigations revealed its full scope. The attacker accessed names, work email addresses, phone numbers, and device identifiers tied to government-issued mobile phones and tablets. While the breach did not compromise device content such as messages, contacts, or photos it included historical data from users of Valtori’s mobile device management (MDM) system. Authorities confirmed that ministers and senior officials may have been affected, though no evidence suggests their data was misused. Valtori initially estimated the breach impacted 20,000 devices, but further analysis expanded the figure to 50,000 users nearly two-thirds of Finland’s 77,000 state employees. The vulnerability stemmed from an unpatched flaw in a commercial MDM system, which was later secured once a patch became available. Investigators also discovered that deleted data had been marked as removed without being fully erased, allowing historical records to be exposed. The breach does not affect all government agencies; devices used in secure networks for security authorities remained unaffected. Location data was also not compromised. The National Bureau of Investigation, Valtori, and the National Cyber Security Centre are leading the ongoing investigation. While the incident has not disrupted ministry operations, it underscores the risks of unpatched vulnerabilities in critical IT infrastructure.