[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$ffX__GSUNlCki0_V7kq6az2u566gis8urkdu67b7e5HQ":3},{"lesson":4},{"id":5,"slug":6,"article_id":7,"title":8,"body":9,"prevention":10,"framework_refs":11,"framework_notes":19,"status":27,"created_at":28,"published_at":29,"article":30,"tags":34,"podcasts":53,"controls":54},"12090a13-fd78-4b71-83e4-c5c5d3ed22a2","slovenian-dpa-finds-employers-access-to-employee-emails-during-absence-violated-gdpr","f7a17888-6e81-47d5-8e28-e7e145a6d43a","Slovenian DPA Finds Employer's Access to Employee Emails During Absence Violated GDPR","An employer in Slovenia accessed and forwarded a staff member's work emails during a prolonged absence, citing business continuity — without conducting a legitimate interests assessment or considering less invasive alternatives. The Information Commissioner ruled this disproportionate and lacking a valid legal basis under GDPR, highlighting that even well-intentioned workplace actions must be grounded in documented, proportionate legal justification. This case illustrates that business continuity needs do not override employees' privacy rights when simpler measures (such as auto-replies or delegation policies) are available. Organisations that fail to formalise procedures for accessing employee accounts expose themselves to regulatory sanction and reputational harm.","**Immediate actions:**\n- Establish and document a formal policy for accessing employee accounts during absences, including required approvals and legal basis before any access occurs.\n- Implement technical controls such as automatic out-of-office replies and pre-authorised email delegation as the default response to employee absence.\n\n**Long-term improvements:**\n- Conduct and record a Legitimate Interests Assessment (LIA) or equivalent legal basis review before any monitoring or access of employee communications is permitted.\n- Integrate a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) process for any HR procedures that involve access to personal data, including email management during absences.\n- Train HR and management staff annually on GDPR obligations relating to employee privacy and proportionality requirements.\n\n**Detection & Governance measures:**\n- Implement audit logging of all administrative access to employee email accounts so that unauthorised or undocumented access can be detected and reviewed.\n- Assign a Data Protection Officer (DPO) or equivalent role to review and approve any non-routine access to employee personal data before it takes place.",[12,13,14,15,16,17,18],"GDPR Article 32","NIST SP 800-53 SI-2: Flaw Remediation","NIST CSF 2.0 PR.AA: Identity Management, Authentication, and Access Control","ISO\u002FIEC 27001:2022 A.8.8: Management of technical vulnerabilities","ISO\u002FIEC 27001:2022 Clause 7.2: Competence","CIS Control 14: Security Awareness and Skills Training","CIS Control 17: Incident Response Management",{"GDPR Article 32":20,"NIST SP 800-53 SI-2: Flaw Remediation":21,"ISO\u002FIEC 27001:2022 Clause 7.2: Competence":22,"CIS Control 17: Incident Response Management":23,"CIS Control 14: Security Awareness and Skills Training":24,"ISO\u002FIEC 27001:2022 A.8.8: Management of technical vulnerabilities":25,"NIST CSF 2.0 PR.AA: Identity Management, Authentication, and Access Control":26},"Article 32 requires appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure data processing respects individuals' rights; the employer lacked any organisational procedure to ensure proportionate, lawful access to employee emails.","While primarily a technical control, SI-2's broader principle of identifying and correcting process deficiencies applies here — the employer had no corrective policy in place to address the procedural gap of employee absence email handling before a violation occurred.","Clause 7.2 requires that personnel are competent in roles affecting information security; HR and management staff clearly lacked training on GDPR proportionality requirements before making the decision to access and forward the employee's emails.","A defined incident and exception-handling process (including employee absence scenarios) would have provided a documented, reviewed procedure instead of an ad-hoc and ultimately unlawful decision to access the employee's email account.","Structured privacy and data protection training for HR and management — as mandated by this control — would have equipped decision-makers to identify less intrusive alternatives and the legal requirements before accessing employee communications.","Beyond technical vulnerabilities, 27001's governance ethos requires managing process weaknesses; the absence of an absence-management email policy was an organisational vulnerability that led directly to a privacy breach.","This function requires that access to assets is managed and limited to authorised users for authorised purposes; accessing another employee's email without a documented legal basis and proper authorisation directly violates this principle.","published","2026-10-30T15:22:37.940235+00:00","2026-10-30T15:22:37.876+00:00",{"id":7,"url":31,"slug":32,"title":33},"https:\u002F\u002Fgdprhub.eu\u002Findex.php?title=IP_(Slovenia)_-_06111-65\u002F2023\u002F12&diff=53557&oldid=0","ip-slovenia-06111-65-2023-12-914884","IP (Slovenia) - 06111-65\u002F2023\u002F12",[35,41,47],{"id":36,"name":37,"slug":38,"description":39,"color":40},"1ec88fde-2d0f-4ed8-932a-33f5ccc0fdc7","Access Control","access-control","Excessive privileges, missing MFA, weak auth","#f97316",{"id":42,"name":43,"slug":44,"description":45,"color":46},"c0dcc566-3654-4d70-8ede-262a198e732f","Regulatory Compliance","regulatory-compliance","GDPR, NIS2, DORA, sector-specific violations","#ec4899",{"id":48,"name":49,"slug":50,"description":51,"color":52},"c8b843a5-d5a7-41d1-8d3b-cabded09d2ef","Data Protection","data-protection","Unencrypted data, missing DLP, poor classification","#3b82f6",[],[]]