The Police Service of Northern Ireland suffered two data breaches in 2023.

Accidental data breach

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. PSNI assistant chief constable Chris Todd said that leaked data included surnames, initials, ranks or grades, locations and departments of all PSNI employees. The PSNI apologised for the breach.

Events

A document was mistakenly published online at about 14:30 on 8 August 2023. It was available for about two hours before it was taken down. On 10 August Chief Constable Simon Byrne said that

dissident republicans Dissident republicans, renegade republicans, anti-Agreement republicans or anti-ceasefire republicans ( ga, poblachtach easaontach) are Irish republicans who do not support the current peace agreements in Northern Ireland. The agreements follo ...

had claimed to have copies of the leaked information, which had been circulating on WhatsApp.

Reactions

The

Police Federation for Northern Ireland The Police Federation for Northern Ireland (PFNI) is the representative body to which all members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland belong up to and including the rank of Chief Inspector, as well as the ranks of reserve and part-time offic ...

called for an "urgent inquiry" into the data breach. Ulster Unionist Party

Mike Nesbitt Michael Nesbitt, MLA (born 11 May 1957) is a British politician and former broadcasterAlliance Party leader Naomi Long said that the sheer scale of the breach was "profoundly concerning".

Data theft

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. This affected about 200 officers and staff members of PSNI.

References

{{reflist Data breaches Police Service of Northern Ireland 2023 in Northern Ireland Crime in Northern Ireland