The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is facing yet another data breach, further intensifying concerns about the security of sensitive information. This revelation follows closely on the heels of a significant breach that affected 10,000 officers and staff and involves the theft of documents containing the personal details of more than 200 serving officers and staff.
Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd confirmed that the PSNI is actively investigating the circumstances surrounding the latest breach, which saw documents, including a spreadsheet containing the names of over 200 officers and staff, stolen from a private vehicle in Newtownabbey on July 6th. This new breach comes just a day after the initial data breach was discovered.
“The documents, along with a police issue laptop and radio, were believed to have been stolen from a private vehicle in the Newtownabbey area on July 6,” Todd stated. “We have contacted the officers and staff concerned to make them aware of the incident, and an initial notification has been made to the office of the Information Commissioner regarding the data breach.”
This latest incident compounds the existing concerns about data security within the PSNI. The previous breach, which occurred just a day prior, involved inadvertently publishing sensitive information as part of a response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. The breach exposed personal details such as surnames, initials, ranks, work locations, and departments of all PSNI staff. However, the breach did not compromise the private addresses of officers and civilians.
In response to the earlier breach, the PSNI issued an apology and initiated measures to mitigate the risks. The force acknowledged the concerns raised by its colleagues and their families and committed to working with security partners to investigate the incident.
