Security News > 2023 > December > Northern Ireland cops count human cost of August data breach

An official review of the Police Service of Northern Ireland's August data breach has revealed the full extent of the impact on staff.

At the time of the data breach disclosure, the PSNI said no staff members were being relocated, but the review revealed that one officer decided to relocate themselves and their family out of concern for their safety.

Generally, the PSNI has been "Slow to adapt" to updated data protection regulation, the review noted, and in 2021 the implementation of the Data Protection Act 2018 was still "Far from complete."

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The Data Protection Act 2018 also mandated the creation of a data protection officer within organizations, but the establishment of this role within the PSNI has been delayed through periods of having an interim DPO and no DPO at all.

"Responding to the review's publication, PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher said:"The report highlights the fact that the breach that occurred was not a result of a single isolated decision, act nor incident by any one person, team or department, but more, a result of the PSNI as an organization not better seizing opportunities to better and more proactively secure and protect its data, and identify and prevent risk earlier on, in an agile and modern way.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/12/psni_data_breach_forces_officers/