It was a human error and not a deliberate act, as all sent emails from employees of the Danish Health and Medicines Authority and the Statens Serum Institut (SSI) were deleted.
This is what Deputy Director of the Danish Health and Medicines Authority Vibeke van der Sprong says.
After the board on Wednesday issued a press release stating that all sent emails, which were sent before July 22, have been deleted, group chairman Karsten Lauritzen has insinuated that this has happened deliberately.
Vibeke van der Sprong will not respond directly to the V group chairman’s criticism, but says that only a very small group of professional employees have access to the agency’s email system.
– This is a very small group that has the right to change settings. But Microsoft as a product is set up in such a way that you as an organization can set up your mail system in the way you need.
– Unfortunately, it has happened here that there is an attitude that we had actually set correctly, which has been changed by mistake, she says.
According to Vibeke van der Sprong, errors have occurred in the agency’s email system over two rounds.
The first time is August 22, when the Danish Health and Medicines Authority discovers that it has changed the settings, so sent emails will be deleted after 30 days. This means that all emails sent before July 22 have been deleted.
However, the board has a backup and is starting to restore the lost emails. Common mailboxes and departmental mailboxes are being recreated.
The second error occurs when there turns out to be a time limit on the backup. It is not 30 days, but 14 days, and therefore the backup manages to delete the content before the employees’ personal emails have been restored. Only about 30 employees have intact sent emails today.
Vibeke van der Sprong says that the board immediately located what had happened. She therefore has no doubt that this is a mistake.
– We have also made our own study, so we know what has been a course of action. We know what has happened, she says and also mentions that an independent investigation is being launched.
– This is an unintentional mistake, we are really sorry, has happened. But this is a mistake on our part.
Question: Do you fear that something illegal has been committed?
– No I do not.
How much can then eventually be recreated, Vibeke van der Sprong can not say at present.
However, she expects that most mails will be able to be recreated using a method where one goes in and retrieves all mails received from a sender. That way, you can restore the sender’s emails sent by that sender, she says.
After the board on Wednesday issued a press release that all sent emails, which were sent before July 22, have been deleted, group chairman Karsten Lauritzen has insinuated that this has happened deliberately.
Vibeke van der Sprong will not respond directly to the V group chairman’s criticism, but says that only a very small group of professional employees have access to the agency’s email system.
– This is a very small group that has the right to change settings. But Microsoft as a product is set up in such a way that you as an organization can set up your mail system in the way you need.
– Unfortunately, it has happened here that there is an attitude that we had actually set correctly, which has been changed by mistake, she says.
According to Vibeke van der Sprong, errors have occurred in the agency’s email system over two rounds.
The first time is August 22, when the Danish Health and Medicines Authority discovers that it has changed the settings, so sent emails will be deleted after 30 days. This means that all emails sent before July 22 have been deleted.
However, the board has a backup and is starting to restore the lost emails. Common mailboxes and departmental mailboxes are being recreated.
The second error occurs when there turns out to be a time limit on the backup. It is not 30 days, but 14 days, and therefore the backup manages to delete the content before the employees’ personal emails have been restored. Only about 30 employees have intact sent emails today.
Vibeke van der Sprong says that the board immediately located what had happened. She therefore has no doubt that this is a mistake.
– We have also made our own study, so we know what has been a course of action. We know what has happened, she says and also mentions that an independent investigation is being launched.
– This is an unintentional mistake, we are really sorry, has happened. But this is a mistake on our part.
Question: Do you fear that something illegal has been committed?
– No I do not.
How much can then eventually be recreated, Vibeke van der Sprong can not say at present.
However, she expects that most mails will be able to be recreated using a method where one goes in and retrieves all mails received from a sender. That way, you can restore the sender’s emails sent by that sender, she says.
Source: The Nordic Page
