04/02/2021

By Leonardo Neri and Barbara Oliveira

At the request of the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD), the Federal Police are investigating what could be the largest data leak in the country's history.

It is estimated that the mega leak under investigation affected more than 220 million people who had their data released on the internet, including deceased people and authorities, such as President Jair Bolsonaro and ministers of the Supreme Federal Court.

In addition to the ANPD's request, the President of the Federal Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes, also ordered the Federal Police to investigate the mega leak, as well as the possible commercialization of the Court's ministers' data.

Due to the involvement of personal data of authorities, the investigation will take place in the fake news inquiry, which investigates the dissemination of false content on the internet and threats to STF ministers.

There is still no disclosure of possible sources of the largest leak of personal data ever recorded.

Regarding data protection, it is important to remember that the General Data Protection Law came into force in September 2020 and, although its administrative sanctions are not yet in force, it already allows data processing agents to be held accountable in cases of incidents like this. The absence of an administrative sanction, which will only come into force from August of this year, does not prevent the application of possible legal measures.