The Lands Authority website is still “switched off” almost a month after a data breach was exposed by the Times of Malta, the Information and Data Protection Commissioner’s office has confirmed.

A joint investigation revealed in November that a massive security flaw in the regulator’s website had inadvertently dumped a tremendous amount of personal data online, in turn making it easily searchable through a simple Google search.

Times of Malta had been able to access over 10 gigabytes of data, which included highly-sensitive correspondence between the Lands Authority and individuals as well as identity cards details and affidavits. An investigation was subsequently launched by the Information and Data Protection Commissioner and the website was put offline within hours of the Times of Malta flagging the breach to the office.

Read: Massive Lands Authority security flaw dumps personal data online

Since then, the website has remained offline, with anyone attempting to access it being told “the site cannot be reached”.

Contacted about this, a spokesman for the Information and Data Protection Commissioner said the investigation into the breach was “still ongoing”.

“In the meantime, the website of the Lands Authority is still switched off,” the spokesman added. No replies were forthcoming when asked when the investigation would be completed.

According to an IT expert who spoke to the Times of Malta, the breach probably occurred as a result of access to private files not being securely locked, allowing search engines like Google to index personal data and making it searchable and downloadable.

Lawyers had also said the new general data protection regulation laid down a number of procedures in case of such breaches, including fines of up to €20 million.

claire.caruana@timesofmalta.com