We have fined Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) £750,000 for exposing the personal information of its entire workforce, leaving many fearing for their safety.
Our investigation found that simple-to-implement procedures could have prevented the serious breach, in which hidden data on a spreadsheet released as part of a freedom of information request revealed the surnames, initials, ranks and roles of all 9,483 PSNI officers and staff.
Mindful of the current financial position at PSNI and not wishing to divert public money from where it is needed, the Commissioner used his discretion to apply the public sector approach in this case. Had this not been applied, the fine would have been £5.6 million.
Summary of the breach
On 3 August 2023, PSNI received two freedom of information requests from the same person via WhatDoTheyKnow (WDTK). The first asked for “… the number of officers at each rank and number of staff at each grade …”, the second asking for a distinction between “how many are substantive / temporary / acting …”.
The information was downloaded as an Excel file with a single worksheet from PSNI’s human resources management system (SAP). The data included: surnames and first name initials, job role, rank, grade, department, location of post, contract type, gender and PSNI service and staff number.
As the information was analysed for disclosure, multiple other worksheets were created within the downloaded Excel file. On completion, all visible onscreen worksheet tabs were deleted from the Excel file. The original worksheet, containing the personal details, remained unnoticed and this was also not picked up despite quality assurance. The file was subsequently uploaded to the WDTK website at 14:31 hours on 8 August.
PSNI was alerted to the breach by its own officers at approximately 16:10 hours the same day. The file was hidden from view by WDTK at 16:51 hours and deleted from the website at 17:27 hours.
Six days later, PSNI announced they were working on the assumption that the file was in the hands of dissident republicans and that it would be used to create fear and uncertainty and for intimidation.
John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner said:
“I cannot think of a clearer example to prove how critical it is to keep personal information safe.
“It is impossible to imagine the fear and uncertainty this breach – which should never have happened – caused PSNI officers and staff. A lack of simple internal administration procedures resulted in the personal details of an entire workforce – many of whom had made great sacrifices to conceal their employment – being exposed.
“Whilst I am aware of the financial pressures facing PSNI, my role as Commissioner is to take action to protect people’s information rights and this includes issuing proportionate, dissuasive fines. I am satisfied, with the application of the public sector approach, this has been achieved in this case.
“Let this be a lesson learned for all organisations. Check, challenge and change your disclosure procedures to ensure you protect people’s personal information.”
Examples of harm and distress caused
Our investigation was assisted by complaints from people who provided candid insights into the anxiety and distress the breach had caused.
“. … Everything has culminated and become too much for me to the point that I have accepted another job outside of the police. I am essentially taking a pay cut not to mention leaving the job that I dreamed of since I was a small child and geared my whole life towards. To say I am devastated is an understatement but I feel I have no choice.”
“I have gone to great trouble to ensure that I have remained invisible, with no social media presence, removal from the electoral roll, 192.com, never revealing my job to others and lying about where I work whenever asked. … I have trouble sleeping, my children … are all stressed about my welfare, some of them have told me that they have nightmares about me getting attacked.”
“How has this impacted on me? 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. I have spent over £1000 installing modern CCTV and lighting around my home, because of the exposure.”
“I believe the risk to my personal security and the safety of my wife and …young children is more significant for me due to the fact that I grew up in the area where we are most active. As a result of this many persons involved and linked to paramilitary groups and wider criminal circles in this area would know me or remember me from both school and childhood. I have gone to great lengths to keep my occupation confidential. Only close family and friends previously had knowledge of it. I have a minimal social media footprint. I have also spent a considerable amount of effort to make our home private and secure to reduce potential for attacks. This has now been severely compromised and will require further expense to upgrade.”
Jon Boutcher, Chief Constable Police Service of Northern Ireland said:
“Today’s confirmation that the ICO has imposed a £750,000 fine on the Police Service of Northern Ireland is regrettable, especially given the financial constraints we are currently facing. This fine will further compound the pressures the Service is facing. Although the majority of the cost (£610,000) was accounted for against the budget last year, a further £140,000 will now be charged against our budget in the current financial year.
“Following the ICO’s announcement in May that they intended to impose a fine and issue an Enforcement Notice we made representations regarding the level of the fine and the requirements in their enforcement notice. While we are extremely disappointed the ICO have not reduced the level of the fine we are pleased that they have taken the decision not to issue an Enforcement Notice. That decision is as a direct result of the police service proving to the ICO that we had implemented the changes recommended to improve the security of personal information in particular when responding to FOI requests.
“The personal testimonies above serve as a stark reminder of the impact the data loss had on our officers and staff and I know this will once again be to the forefront of their minds. As a service we are in a different place today than we were last August and we have continued to work tirelessly to devalue the compromised dataset by introducing a number of measures for officers and staff. We have provided significant crime prevention advice to our officers and staff and their families via online tools, advice clinics and home visits.
“We continue to progress the recommendations made by the ICO and also the recommendations made by the Independent Review Team who published their findings in December 2023, including the establishment of the Deputy Chief Constable as the Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO) and the establishment of a Strategic Data Board and Data Delivery Group, ensuring that information security and data protection matters are afforded the support and attention they critically deserve.
“Work is ongoing to ensure everything that can be done is being done to mitigate any risk of such a loss occurring in the future.”
Guidance for organisations
In September 2023, following a number of high-profile personal data breaches, the Commissioner issued an advisory notice with recommendations public authorities should adopt to ensure personal information is not disclosed in freedom of information responses. We have also:
- published a checklist for public authorities to use for the safe and appropriate disclosure of information;
- publicised our guidance on how to disclose information safely; and
- engaged with online platforms which facilitate FOI and transparency.
Notes to editors
- The Commissioner announced his provisional findings in a Notice of Intent and Preliminary Enforcement Notice (PEN) in May 2024. He considered PSNI representations before reaching this final decision. This consideration concluded that PSNI had made the necessary changes to its policies, procedures and training and that there were no longer grounds to proceed to an enforcement notice.
- The ICO is the UK’s independent regulator for data protection and information rights law, upholding information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.
- The ICO has specific responsibilities set out in the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA2018), the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) and a further five acts and regulations.
- The ICO can take action to address and change the behaviour of organisations and individuals that collect, use, and keep personal information. This includes criminal prosecution, civil enforcement and audit.
- To report a concern to the ICO telephone call our helpline on 0303 123 1113 or go to ico.org.uk/concerns.