According to Helsingin Sanomat the leak was due to an online security breach on the servers of the matriculation examination board's website. Approximately 7,695 students have fallen victim to the leak.
The personal information that was leaked included names, addresses, phone numbers, study information and social security numbers. The leak affected students who had ordered copies of online diplomas from the matriculation examination board between 2012 to 2016.
The leaked information was deleted after the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority contacted the company in charge of responding to the security breach.
The matriculation examination board told HS that it was sorry for what had happened and that it was taking the matter extremely seriously.
Such information leaks could lead to cases of identity theft, but whilst it is not known how long the leaked information was available to the public, there was no indication that the information had been misused.
