PSNI apologises to officers and civilian staff after major data breach

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the data breach happened as a result of ‘simple human error’

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has apologised after information about all of the force’s serving officers and staff was published in a data breach.

At a press conference in Belfast, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd said the surname, initial, the rank or grade, the location and the departments of all current officers had been accidentally published in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

Mr Todd said: “In terms of the security for individuals, there’s nothing at the moment to suggest there’s any immediate security concerns, but we have put actions in place to ensure that if anything does arise we will be aware of that, and then we can mitigate accordingly.”

He added: “This is human error.

“We’ve looked into the circumstances, we’ll continue with our investigation, but the very early considerations are that this is simple human error and the people who have been involved in the process have acted in good faith.

“We’ve identified some steps that we can take to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

“It is regrettable but it is simple human error.”

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said: “I’m deeply concerned by the data breach involving the PSNI. My officials are in close contact with senior officers and are keeping me updated.”