Poland considers automatic PESEL reservation after massive data leak

Following a major cyberattack on the private company MyDr, which resulted in the leak of sensitive data belonging to approximately 19 million Polish citizens, officials are discussing changes to personal identification protections. The breach potentially exposed names, PESEL numbers, phone numbers, email addresses, and health information, including medical notes and prescriptions. Reports indicate that the leaked data may include information belonging to employees of the Ministry of National Defence and Polish soldiers.

Bartosz Grodecki, head of the National Security Bureau, has proposed that PESEL numbers should be automatically reserved (blocked) by default. Currently, citizens must manually opt-in to reserve their numbers through applications like mObywatel. Grodecki argued that since the number is rarely needed for routine administrative tasks, an automatic reservation system would better protect citizens, stating, “The state should protect me.”

While the Minister of Digital Affairs has advised citizens to manually reserve their PESEL numbers as a basic digital hygiene measure, no official legislation has been passed to implement automatic reservations at this time.