The Brandenburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Access to Information Brandenburg ('Brandenburg LDA') published, on 3 May 2021, its annual activity report 2020. In particular, the report outlines, among other things, the Brandenburg LDA's focus on COVID-19-related data protection issues during the year of 2020 and summarises the authority's enforcement activity. Specifically, the report details that the Brandenburg LDA received 1,322 complaints concerned alleged data protection violations during 2020, a notable increase from the 878 complaints received in 2019. The report further highlights that a significant proportion of these complaints, specifically 190, related to video surveillance.

In addition, the report reveals that the Brandenburg LDA received 409 data breach notifications, again noting a sizeable increase from 2019. The report further specifies that 48% of such notifications related to incorrectly sending documents, while 23% of the notified breaches were caused by virus attacks, phishing, hacker attacks, unauthorised access by third parties etc., thus highlighting the importance of implementing and keeping up-to-date technical and organisational security measures.

Furthermore, the report outlines that its administrative proceedings resulted in the issuance of 16 fines in total during 2020, specifying that the total amount of the fines imposed was €331,200.

You can read the report, only available in German, here.