Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė says her government will not resign over the large-scale data breach at the Centre of Registers, arguing that stepping down would “be the best gift to our enemies”.
The comments came as opposition parties questioned the government’s handling of the incident and accused ministers of failing to inform the public quickly enough about the theft of personal data from state registries.
“We do not shy away from responsibility, but today it is vital to emphasise that the government must solve problems, not flee from them,” Ruginienė told reporters after meeting the ministers of economy, defence and the interior.
The prime minister was responding to criticism over political accountability and questions about why the public was not informed earlier about the breach.
Ruginienė said she had been informed about the theft of data in early April, but could not disclose the information publicly because a pre-trial investigation had already been launched.
“Since then, the Prosecutor General’s Office has controlled the entire process,” she said. “We could only make public statements once prosecutors informed the public themselves.”
She added that disclosing information from a pre-trial investigation without prosecutorial approval could carry criminal liability.
The Prosecutor General’s Office is investigating the illegal access and theft of more than 600,000 records from Lithuania’s real estate register, including personal identification numbers.
According to investigators, the systems were accessed from abroad using compromised accounts belonging to Migration Department employees. The first unauthorised access attempts were recorded earlier this year, while the Centre of Registers became aware of the breach in April.
Ruginienė also revealed that her own personal data, as well as information relating to her family, had been leaked in the attack.
“My own family’s data was similarly accessed and leaked. Therefore, I fully understand how every person caught in this situation feels. This is inexcusable,” she said.
Speaker of the Seimas Juozas Olekas said his own data had not been affected. President Gitanas Nausėda was reportedly unable to check whether his information had been leaked because of technical problems in the Centre of Registers system.
Olekas has previously said he did not believe the government had deliberately withheld information from the public.
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