Electronic Information Protection Taken Seriously - Maybe A Bit Too Much?

Hungary's new law on information security will plug a hole in existing legislation, but may prove to be excessive in addressing security issues.

In December 2012, a municipal district in Budapest reached an agreement with Google to apply cloud-based solutions to the entire sphere of the municipality's IT systems. At first glance, this solution may seem "cool" and progressive. However, the mayor of the municipality may not have considered the information security and data protection risks resulting from the fact that Google is covered by the scope of U.S. laws. As a result, U.S. authorities may directly request any of the municipality's data handled by Google without the application of international legal assistance.