Land Registry data leak: Protected addresses accessible for nearly a month

A data leak at the Land Registry meant that protected residential addresses were visible and accessible between September 18 and October 11, the organization that manages real estate confirmed to the Volkskrant. According to the Land Registry, the leak occurred during a recent system update, and it notified the Dutch Data Protection Authority.

The Land Registry keeps track of who owns which real estate. There are two ways to make your residential address invisible on the Land Registry. Since 2019, threatened people can ask for their residential address to be hidden. Strict criteria apply to this. The national counter-terrorism coordinator NCTV must list the person as threatened, or the person must be under personal protection.

Persons not under protection can ask the municipality to make their residential address confidential on the personal records database (BRP), along with an explanation as to why. Because the Land Registry is linked to the BRP, that residential address will not get listed in the Land Registry.

Something went wrong during an update of the Land Registry’s system on September 18, and the hidden addresses became visible until the issue was discovered on October 11. “Obviously, we find this incident very annoying,” the Land Registry wrote in an email to a victim, according to the Volkskrant. The Land Registry informed the AP about the leak.

It is not clear how many people were affected.