Police force hit by security breach after every officer's name released online
There has been a security breach at the Police Service of Northern Ireland after the names of all officers and staff were released online in a Freedom of Information request.
The information was released online to the website What Do They Know which is designed to help people in the UK make FOI requests. An FOI request on August 3, 2023, had asked the PSNI for "the number of officers and staff at each rank or grade distinguishing between how many are substantive/temporary/acting as of 01/08/2023." It also requested the information in the form of tables for officers and staff.
This was responded to on Tuesday, August 8, with an attachment containing the surnames and initials of all officers and staff within the force, along with the locations where they work, their rank and other information. The attachment has since been removed from the website,reports Belfast Live.
Following the release of the information, Chief Superintendent Sam Donaldson, responded on the website and asked to be called urgently as "Data which is a security breach has been sent into the public domain". Alliance Party leader and former Justice Minister Naomi Long said that the scale of the data breach was of “profound concern”.
Ms Long said immediate action must be taken. “This level of data breach is clearly of profound concern, not least to police officers, civilian staff and their families, who will be feeling incredibly vulnerable and exposed tonight, and in the days ahead,” she said.
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“Immediate action must be taken to offer them proper information, support, guidance and necessary reassurances regarding their and their families’ security. Whilst the personal data has now been removed, once such information has been published online, it leaves an indelible footprint.
“That such sensitive information could ever have been held in a manner open to such a breach is unconscionable and will require serious investigation; however, the most urgent issue is supporting those whose security has been compromised.”
The former justice minister added: “Alliance representatives on the Policing Board are seeking an urgent meeting of the board to be convened with PSNI senior management team to address this unprecedented security breach.”
SDLP policing spokesman Mark H Durkan said PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne needed to make an “urgent statement about the scale of the breach”, outlining how it happened and the immediate response to it.
Mike Nesbitt, the Ulster Unionist representative on the Policing Board of Northern Ireland, has called for an emergency meeting of the Policing Board on Wednesday in response to the disclosure.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has been notified about the incident. An ICO spokesperson said: “The Police Service of Northern Ireland has made us aware of an incident and we are assessing the information provided.”
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