“Two files containing the personal data of 221,511 inhabitants of Eindhoven were accessible to unauthorised parties for a period of time last year.”
The leaked files held citizen service numbers, the Dutch equivalent of a social security number. The city rated identity theft “unlikely” and skipped telling residents, who found out months later from a newspaper. Eindhoven was already under stricter supervision after some 200 earlier breaches. Nobody can opt out of their own municipality.