The government would not say when the Lands Authority website would be going back online after having been offline for more than two months following a data breach exposed by Times of Malta.

A spokeswoman for the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry, under whose remit the Lands Authority falls, said the regulator was “coordinating with the Malta Information Technology Agency on the matter”.

She said experts had also been engaged “to test the website and relevant applications” and, though noting that the tests were ongoing, she would not say when the website would be going back online.

The massive data breach was reported last November. The newspaper said the breach was a result of a security flaw that dumped large amounts of private data, including scans of ID cards and e-mail correspondence, online and also making it easily searchable on search engines such as Google.

Experts engaged to test the website and relevant applications

As the website remained inaccessible since, first going offline just after Times of Malta sent questions on the matter in November, clients have been complaining they had no option but to visit the regulator’s offices when they needed to settle even the smallest of issues.

A spokesman for the Data Protection Commissioner said last month an investigation into the data breach was in “its final stages” but gave no other details.

While the ministry’s spokeswoman noted that the government was informed that the regulator was “in communication” with the Data Protection Commissioner, she did not reply to questions on whether those impacted by the breach had been formally informed. 

Neither did she say who was being held responsible for the breach and whether any action had been taken in this regard.