Security News > 2024 > May > Northern Ireland police faces £750k fine after exposing staff info
The United Kingdom's Information Commissioner Office intends to impose a fine of £750,000 on the Police Service of Northern Ireland for exposing the entire workforce's personal details by mistakenly publishing a spreadsheet online.
"We have announced we intend to fine the Police Service of Northern Ireland £750,000 for failing to protect the personal information of its entire workforce." reads the announcement.
"The proposed fine relates to an incident where personal information - including surname, initials, rank, and role of all 9,483 serving PSNI officers and staff - was included in a"hidden" tab of a spreadsheet published online in response to a freedom of information request.
The Commissioner noted that the proposed fine on PSNI is set much lower than the nominal provisional figure, which is £5.6 million, taking into consideration that PSNI is a public organization that operates on a finite budget, providing crucial services to the community.
The investigation into who holds the leaked data continues, with detectives conducting numerous searches and arrests related to the unlawful dissemination of the stolen data set.
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