Lahti finds personal data of 29 people at closed school

Yle reports that documents containing personal data belonging to 29 people were found at the closed Kanerva school in Lahti. The oldest papers date from 1989.

A private individual found a folder in the school grounds last week. On Monday, Yle found more files in a former staff room, containing nearly a rubbish bag’s worth of confidential material.

Most of the papers were copies of official decisions and included people’s names, addresses and dates of birth. The city also found a small bag of papers in the school attic with information about two people. Those documents had come from the former Arola school in Nastola and were dated 1989.

The city has reported the breach to the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman and will contact everyone whose information appeared in the papers. The documents are being stored securely at city hall before they are destroyed. The city’s data protection officer, Tiina Häyrinen, said she did not believe the information had reached the wrong hands.

The city suspects the papers were kept by school staff as a convenient reference, rather than searching for the information in the electronic case management system. Häyrinen said the breach violated data protection rules as well as the city’s own guidance. The city considers the case serious and says it will strengthen its procedures.

The school has been closed for more than 10 years. The Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman says it has been notified of an unusually high number of similar breaches this year.