Northern Ireland police fined over ‘serious’ data breach

BELFAST: Northern Ireland’s police authority was on Oct 3 fined £750,000 (RM4.17mil or US$996,000) over a data breach that saw the personal details of police and intelligence officers posted on a website.

The identities of all 9,483 staff of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) were mistakenly published online on Aug 8, 2023, after a freedom of information request.

Hidden data on a spreadsheet uploaded to a website revealed the surnames, initials, ranks and roles of the entire PSNI workforce, said the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regulator.

The data protection watchdog called the error a “serious breach” that could have been prevented but the file remained unnoticed on the website for more than two hours before it was taken down.

Six days later, the PSNI said it was “aware that dissident republicans claim to be in possession of some of this information”, referring to pro-Irish paramilitary groups.

The names of up to 40 officers working for Britain’s domestic MI5 intelligence in Northern Ireland were believed to be among the published data.

“It is impossible to imagine the fear and uncertainty this breach – which should never have happened – caused PSNI officers and staff,” said UK information commissioner John Edwards.

If the PSNI had not been a publicly funded body, the fine would have been £5.6mil (RM31.22mil), the ICO added.

Northern Ireland police are subject to sporadic attacks by dissident Irish republicans and were targeted frequently during the 30 years of conflict over British rule, which claimed more than 3,000 lives before the 1998 peace accords.

“I don’t sleep at night. I continually get up through the night when I hear a noise outside to check that everything is OK,” said one staff member in testimony cited by the ICO.

Many PSNI officers and support staff quit after the data breach.

The fine was “regrettable, especially given the financial constraints we are currently facing,” said PSNI deputy chief constable Chris Todd.

It “will further compound the pressures” the force is facing, he said in a statement.

The PSNI’s chief constable at the time, Simon Byrne, quit one month after the breach and a string of other scandals rocked confidence in the authority.

A senior English police officer, Jon Boutcher, took over as PSNI chief – one of the most demanding jobs in UK policing – last November. – AFP