Fine against Orange Romania SA of July 17, 2026
The investigation was initiated after Orange Romania SA (the controller) notified the Romanian DPA (ANSPDCP) of a personal data breach pursuant to Article 33 GDPR, related to its mobile application.
A customer (the data subject) of the controller was able to access and download invoices belonging to other customers. As a result, personal data such as names, addresses, delivery addresses, ID document details, and invoice information were disclosed. The incident was caused by a mismatch between two interconnected applications, which incorrectly linked the data subject's account to an employee account. During the investigation, another vulnerability was identified in the controller's ticketing application. The platform was publicly accessible and lacked adequate security measures, such as VPN protection, multi-factor authentication, and IP-based access restrictions. This vulnerability enabled a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of a large volume of personal data, including names, contact details, national identification numbers, copies of identity documents, banking-related information, login credentials, customer codes, and IBAN numbers. Holding — First, the DPA found that the controller infringed Article 25 GDPR by failing to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures when designing and operating its digital platforms. The DPA considered that these shortcomings enabled unauthorised access to personal data and failed to adequately protect data subjects' rights. For this infringement, the DPA imposed a fine of RON 104,780 (€20,000). Second, the DPA found that the controller infringed Article 32 GDPR by failing to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk. The DPA noted that the controller had not adequately secured its platforms and had failed to regularly test and assess the effectiveness of its security measures. For this infringement, the DPA imposed a fine of RON 419,120 (€80,000). In addition, as a corrective measure, the DPA ordered the controller to implement a monitoring and testing process for all IT applications used in its activities. The process must include controls over software changes and vulnerability testing.
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The National Supervisory Authority for Personal Data Processing completed, in June 2026, an investigation at the operator Orange Romania SA and found a violation of the provisions of art. 25 paragraph (1), art. 32 paragraph (1) letter b) and d) and art. 32 paragraph (2) and (4) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679. Consequently, Orange Romania SA was sanctioned with two fines in the amount of 523,900 lei (equivalent to 100,000 EURO), as follows: 1. with a fine in the amount of 104,780 lei (equivalent to 20,000 euros) for violating the provisions of art. 25 paragraph (1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, regarding the lack of implementation of appropriate technical and organizational measures, both at the time of establishing the means of processing and during the actual processing; 2. with a fine in the amount of 419,120 lei (equivalent to the amount of 80,000 euros) for violating the provisions of art.
32 paragraph (1) letter b) and d), paragraphs (2) and (4) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, regarding the lack of implementation of appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure the confidentiality and appropriate security of the processing. The investigation was initiated following the transmission by the operator of a notification regarding the breach of personal data security, according to the provisions of art. 33 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679. Thus, the operator notified that the security incident occurred in the mobile application owned by it, where a customer was able to access and download equipment invoices belonging to other customers. This occurred as a result of a synchronization error between two interconnected applications of the operator which thus generated a wrong identification between a customer account and that of a company employee. Regarding this aspect, during the investigation, it was found that the operator did not implement adequate technical and organizational measures when configuring and using its digital platforms to protect the rights of its users.
This situation led to the unauthorized disclosure of personal data of several data subjects, such as: name, surname, home address, delivery address, series and number of the identity card, series and number of the invoice, date of its issuance, thus violating the provisions of art. 25 paragraph. (1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679. At the same time, during the investigation, it was also found that the operator did not implement adequate technical and organizational measures to ensure an appropriate level of security to protect the managed platforms and did not periodically test the effectiveness of the security systems. This vulnerability allowed a cyber attack on the access security in the operator's ticketing application, which thus led to unauthorized access and unauthorized disclosure of personal data transmitted, stored or processed. The platform was publicly exposed without security measures, such as secure connection (VPN), two-step authentication (MFA) or IP-based access restriction.
As a result, a very large volume of personal data of the data subjects was stolen without authorization, such as: first and last name; addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, personal identification number, series and number of the identity card, including copies of the identity card; information related to bank cards, expiration date, card provider; authentication data that represent potential access keys for communication between applications (past or present), customer code, IBAN code, SIM numbers; employee function typology. Pursuant to art. 58 para. ) and which includes subsequent tests in order to identify vulnerabilities that may lead to unauthorized access to personal data.