Beit Shemesh Fined NIS 64,000 After 4,600 Residents’ Welfare Data Exposed

The Privacy Protection Authority fined Beit Shemesh Municipality NIS 64,000 after a municipal website exposed welfare records for about 4,600 residents, including sensitive medical information. A journalist alerted the city and regulator, after which access was blocked and the system shut down. The authority found the municipality had failed to list its outside supplier in the welfare database definitions despite nearly two years of access, while its security procedure omitted required controls on permitted uses, data types, systems, subcontractors and supporting agreements. Two NIS 40,000 violations were reduced from a combined NIS 80,000 because the municipality had no similar sanction in the preceding five years; the supplier inquiry remains open.