#79: Stay Frosty – The Massive City of Helsinki Data Breach
Thu Oct 30 2025
In this episode, our experts Hannes Saarinen and Pilvi Alopaeus take a closer look at one of the largest data breaches in Finland, where an attacker gained access to the City of Helsinki's network drive—compromising the personal data of around 300,000 people living in or, for example, attending school in Helsinki.
To help us unpack the case and the newly published investigation report, we're joined by Mikael Hitruhin, Data Protection Lawyer at the City of Helsinki, who has been part of the city's investigative team.
What went wrong? How could this have happened—and what does it have to do with Swiss cheese? We dive into both the technical and legal aspects, as well as Mikael's experiences and lessons learned from working through such a significant and devastating attack.
We'll also explore the upcoming change in Finnish law that would empower the Data Protection Ombudsman to issue fines to the public sector. Will the threat of fines raise the level of data protection in public organisations—and how might it affect public trust and the sense of justice?
LINKS:
The report:
https://www.turvallisuustutkinta.fi/material/sites/otkes/otkes/mvyzc49g6/P2024_Helsinki_Investigation_report.pdf
Did you enjoy our show? Support us by buying us a coffee here: https://bmc.link/privacypod4u
We would love to get feedback – so please tag us, follow us, DM us, or send us traditional email:
Instagram: @privacypod
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tietosuojapod/about/
Email: tietosuojapod@protonmail.com
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In this episode, our experts Hannes Saarinen and Pilvi Alopaeus take a closer look at one of the largest data breaches in Finland, where an attacker gained access to the City of Helsinki's network drive—compromising the personal data of around 300,000 people living in or, for example, attending school in Helsinki. To help us unpack the case and the newly published investigation report, we're joined by Mikael Hitruhin, Data Protection Lawyer at the City of Helsinki, who has been part of the city's investigative team. What went wrong? How could this have happened—and what does it have to do with Swiss cheese? We dive into both the technical and legal aspects, as well as Mikael's experiences and lessons learned from working through such a significant and devastating attack. We'll also explore the upcoming change in Finnish law that would empower the Data Protection Ombudsman to issue fines to the public sector. Will the threat of fines raise the level of data protection in public organisations—and how might it affect public trust and the sense of justice? LINKS: The report: https://www.turvallisuustutkinta.fi/material/sites/otkes/otkes/mvyzc49g6/P2024_Helsinki_Investigation_report.pdf Did you enjoy our show? Support us by buying us a coffee here: https://bmc.link/privacypod4u We would love to get feedback – so please tag us, follow us, DM us, or send us traditional email: Instagram: @privacypod LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tietosuojapod/about/ Email: tietosuojapod@protonmail.com