Europol has been instructed to delete a massive data trove of information on individuals who have no links to criminal activity after previously failing to comply with regulations. Europol was ordered to delete the data by the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) on January 3 after an inquiry was opened in 2019. The organization now has twelve months to complete the task. Any data older than six months on individuals who are not linked to criminality must be deleted. Europol’s alleged inability to comply with the principles of data storage led to the inquiry.

According to the EDPS, Europol has not made progress on the issue of data storage. The organization also stated that collecting and processing data can amount to a huge amount of information. Therefore, the content of the data troves are often not fully known until they reach the analyzation and extraction process. The data trove could be more than four petabytes, according to those familiar with the situation. The data was extracted over the past six years from crime reports, hacked phones, and screening of asylum seekers.

Read More: Europol Ordered to Delete Vast Trove of Personal Information