The Police Service of Northern Ireland suffered two data breaches in 2023. [1] [2]
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]
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]
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]
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]