Consultation conducted on draft law by Commission regarding its implementation of the directive.
In the heart of Germany, Schleswig-Holstein, a state renowned for its digital ambitions, embarked on a significant digital sovereignty project in April 2024. The project aimed to migrate its state administration from Microsoft's suite of tools, including Teams, Word, Excel, and Outlook, to open-source alternatives like LibreOffice, Linux, and Open-Xchange for approximately 60,000 public workers and teachers[1].
However, during this transition, around 800 mailboxes encountered a critical issue that led to emails being sent to incorrect addresses[1][3]. Although the precise technical cause remains unclear, this problem likely originated from the complexities inherent in migrating email services, such as directory service integration, mail routing configuration, or user account synchronization, between different technologies and platforms[1][3].
The recipients of the incorrectly assigned content were legally bound to confidentiality, and no information about the nature of the confidential data involved in the email mix-up was provided in the article.
Upon detecting the problem, access to the affected accounts was immediately blocked, leaving the employees affected unable to access their emails[1]. The incident was first reported by service provider Dataport on Thursday, and by Friday, the affected employees were able to work fully again[1].
Despite the email misdelivery, 11,000 administration mailboxes had already been successfully migrated to Open-Xchange and Thunderbird prior to this incident[1]. The migration of email inboxes in the state administration resulted in a technical glitch, and Dataport is currently working on restoring functionality[1].
The state's Digitalization Minister, Dirk Schröder (CDU), wrote to the responsible parliamentary committees about the incident[1]. The state's Chancellor, Schröder, confirmed that no data was lost or sent to external third parties in this incident[1].
This email mishap in Schleswig-Holstein is part of a broader European effort to reduce reliance on U.S. tech companies amid concerns over data privacy, vendor lock-in, and digital sovereignty[1][3]. The state aimed to regain local control and reduce costs by using open-source software but faced transition challenges typical of complex IT migrations.
As the state continues its transition, it remains crucial to address the technical and operational challenges that may arise during such migrations to ensure the smooth delivery of emails and maintain the integrity of confidential data.
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