Spain's Domestic Violence Monitoring System Experiences 12-Hour Outage
Spain's Cometa system for monitoring domestic violence perpetrators experienced a 12-hour server outage on 11 November 2025 caused by a routine cybersecurity task. The Ministry of Equality reported that contingency protocols protected the 4,500 victims using the system and that no unprotection occurred, though the minister acknowledged she cannot guarantee future failures will not occur before the next contract begins in May 2026.
What happened
On 11 November 2025, the Cometa system experienced a 12-hour outage affecting geolocation data transmission. The incident occurred from 4:30 to 17:25 when a routine cybersecurity task caused undesired server behaviour that affected one of four servers, creating delays in receiving geolocation information across the remaining three servers.
The malfunction caused slowness in the system, resulting in backlog of internal messages used to process geolocation data, delays in data transmission, punctual blocks in some processes, and pauses in channels managing alerts.
Reported impact
The Ministry of Equality stated that the security of more than 4,500 domestic violence victims wearing monitoring devices was never at risk and that contingency protocols with state security forces were immediately activated. The victims were informed of the situation.
Index analysis
The ministry processed over 30 million geolocalizations daily through the system. Minister Ana Redondo acknowledged that no technology is infallible and that complex systems can experience punctual incidents, but stated that protecting protocols functioned and would continue to function.
Governance controls
A contingency plan with state security forces was activated immediately upon detection of the incident. The ministry's team moved to the Cometa centre to monitor resolution of the issue.
The ministry is conducting internal and external audits and preparing new contract specifications for a new Cometa contract planned for May 2026, which will incorporate audit conclusions and new requirements to improve the system.
Classification
Sources and evidence
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