What challenges does PDPD face in tracking data breach origins?

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PDPD Faces Significant Challenges in Tracing Data Breach Origins

The Personal Data Protection Department (PDPD) encounters substantial difficulties in pinpointing the source of data breaches, primarily due to the methods employed by criminals to obscure their tracks. These perpetrators frequently delete data from compromised servers, thereby severing any digital trail that could lead back to them, making investigations arduous and often inconclusive. This deliberate erasure of evidence is a primary obstacle in the PDPD's efforts to hold malicious actors accountable.
Criminals Erase Data to Conceal Identity

A significant challenge for the PDPD stems from the common practice of cybercriminals wiping data from hacked servers. This action effectively removes critical evidence, such as logs or access records, that could otherwise be used to identify the perpetrators. Without this digital footprint, tracing the breach back to its origin becomes exceptionally difficult, hindering the department's investigative capabilities.
Technical Difficulties in Evidence Gathering

Beyond the deliberate erasure of data, the PDPD also faces broader technical hurdles in collecting sufficient evidence for prosecution. The complexity of digital forensics and the transient nature of data in cyber environments contribute to these difficulties. Consequently, the number of successful prosecutions for data protection offences has remained relatively low, with only 15 companies compounded and five fined between 2016 and the present year.
Increasing Volume of Cases Complicates Investigations

The sheer volume of reported data breach cases further strains the PDPD's resources and capacity to conduct thorough investigations. With the department receiving reports of 130 cases up to June this year, a four-fold increase from the 30 cases recorded in all of 2022, the rate of reported incidents has reached an all-time high of 15 cases per week. This surge, driven largely by ransomware attacks, means that an average of at least five of these weekly cases involve personal data breaches, overwhelming the department's ability to meticulously trace each incident's origin.

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What challenges does PDPD face in tracking data breach origins?

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