The head of the Slovak cadastre of real estate has reportedly resigned from his position.

Bratislava - The chairman of the Slovak Office of Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre (ÚGKK) Juraj Celler today, as expected, resigned from his position. He announced the decision on Sunday in response to politicians' calls for him to resign after a cyberattack on the information systems of the ÚGKK, including the land registry. Slovak media reported this.

Hackers attacked the ÚGKK systems on January 5, with the office and the Ministry of Interior confirming the incident several days later. Initially, they reported a technical outage and modifications to the information systems.

The head of the ÚGKK is accountable to the government for his performance in accordance with the law. Celler was appointed to lead the office by the current government of Prime Minister Robert Fico a year ago. In recent days, Fico also called for Celler's resignation.

A significant majority of the Slovak land registry offices have gradually resumed their activities in a limited capacity. According to the Ministry of Interior, starting today, another 17 cadastral departments in district offices, including in Bratislava, are becoming operational. However, the key central information system for the cadastre remains out of service.

Slovak government politicians previously stated that the cyberattack on the systems of the ÚGKK was the largest of its kind in the history of Slovakia and that the attackers could have originated from Ukraine. The ÚGKK reported that it is restoring its databases from backup files and that the data on the property ownership records have not been altered.