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
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "PSNI confirms major data breach as Assistant Chief Constable apologises". TheJournal.ie. Press Association. 2023-08-08. https://www.thejournal.ie/psni-staff-impacted-by-major-data-breach-6139039-Aug2023/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Edwards, Christian; Hauser, Jennifer (2023-08-09). "'Monumental' data breach exposes names of entire Northern Ireland police force". CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/09/uk/psni-data-breach-gbr-intl/index.html.
- ↑ Halpin, Hayley (2023-08-10). "Dissident republicans claim to have information after PSNI data breach, Chief Constable says". TheJournal.ie. https://www.thejournal.ie/psni-chief-constable-questions-data-breach-6139986-Aug2023/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Halpin, Hayley (2023-08-09). "'Critical incident' declared following PSNI data breach as second document theft emerges". TheJournal.ie. https://www.thejournal.ie/psni-data-beach-6139154-Aug2023/.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hogan, Laura (2023-08-09). "PSNI investigating documents' theft in separate data breach". RTÉ News. https://www.rte.ie/news/ulster/2023/0809/1398821-psni-data-breach/.
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