PSNI data breaches

The Police Service of Northern Ireland suffered two data breaches in 2023.[1][2]

Accidental data breach

On 8 August 2023 the PSNI announced that there had been an accidental data breach caused by data being mistakenly published online to the WhatDoTheyKnow website in response to a freedom of information request.[1][2] PSNI assistant chief constable Chris Todd said that leaked data included surnames, initials, ranks or grades, locations and departments of all PSNI employees.[1][2] The PSNI apologised for the breach.[1][2]

Events

A document was mistakenly published online at about 14:30 on 8 August 2023.[2] It was available for about two hours before it was taken down.[2]

On 10 August Chief Constable Simon Byrne said that dissident republicans had claimed to have copies of the leaked information, which had been circulating on WhatsApp.[3]

Reactions

The Police Federation for Northern Ireland called for an "urgent inquiry" into the data breach.[1]

Ulster Unionist Party Mike Nesbitt representative on the Policing Board called for an urgent meeting of the board.[1]

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said that the sheer scale of the breach was "profoundly concerning".[1]

Data theft

On 9 August 2023 it was revealed that documents, a police issue laptop and radio were stolen from a private vehicle near Newtownabbey on 6 July 2023.[4][5] This affected about 200 officers and staff members of PSNI.[4][5]

References
  1. "PSNI confirms major data breach as Assistant Chief Constable apologises". TheJournal.ie. Press Association. 2023-08-08. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  2. Edwards, Christian; Hauser, Jennifer (2023-08-09). "'Monumental' data breach exposes names of entire Northern Ireland police force". CNN. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  3. Halpin, Hayley (2023-08-10). "Dissident republicans claim to have information after PSNI data breach, Chief Constable says". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  4. Halpin, Hayley (2023-08-09). "'Critical incident' declared following PSNI data breach as second document theft emerges". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  5. Hogan, Laura (2023-08-09). "PSNI investigating documents' theft in separate data breach". RTÉ News. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
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