Northern Ireland’s police service is at the centre of a “monumental” data breach scandal after it mistakenly posted the personal details of its entire workforce online.
The incident happened on Tuesday when the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) responded to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request seeking the number of officers and staff of all ranks and grades across the organisation.
The response, which included the employment details of some 10,000 officers and civilian staff, was published on an FOI website and was publicly accessible for up to three hours.
The force’s Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd apologised to his staff for the breach, which has heightened security fears for officers currently working under a severe dissident republican terror threat.
An emergency meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board has been called in response to the critical incident and will take place on Thursday.
The information commissioner has also been notified of the breach.
Former Justice Minister Naomi Long said on Wednesday some officers would now consider their futures with the force.
She said that “in some cases, in terms of their rank, it would disclose sensitive information about individuals” that would not have been available to the public—“if they’re undercover officers, if they’re involved in intelligence operations, and so on.”
Grave Concern
Liam Kelly, chairman of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, which represents rank and file officers, said he has been “inundated” with messages from officers who are “shocked, dismayed, and basically angry.”“This is a breach of monumental proportions,” he said in a statement on Tuesday evening.
Police in the region are under threat from terrorists, with the current assessed level of threat at severe, meaning an attack is highly likely.
In February, senior detective John Caldwell was seriously injured when he was shot at a sports complex in County Tyrone.
Earlier this year, Chief Constable Simon Byrne said he receives briefings almost every day about plots to attack and kill his officers, adding that the ongoing threat from dissident republicans remains a “real worry.”
Mr. Byrne was on holiday when the breach took place but is cutting his trip short to return to Northern Ireland to deal with the fall-out.
Mr. Kelly told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme that, since news of the data breach emerged, he has been “personally inundated with officers who are outlining that they are shocked, dismayed, and basically angry that this has happened.”
“Our officers go to great lengths to protect their identities. Some of them don’t even tell their close friends and associates that they are actually in the police,” he said.
He added: “Certainly, in my 29 years of the police, I’ve never experienced something like this, and quite rightly the PSNI have declared this matter as a critical incident and have reported it to the information commissioner’s office.
“What my members and myself clearly need to hear from the PSNI is the steps that they intend to take to support not only our officers but their families.”
Speaking to the media on Wednesday morning, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the incident was of “grave concern.”
“Already I’ve had police officers in my own constituency in touch with me, they’re very worried about what this means for them, for their security and that of their family.”
Human Error
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said he is “deeply concerned” over the breach.Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr. Heaton-Harris added, “My officials are in close contact with senior officers and are keeping me updated.”
Addressing the media in Belfast on Tuesday evening, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd apologised to officers for the “unacceptable” breach.
He said that, once it was brought to the PSNI’s attention, it was taken down “quickly,” and that early indications are it was a “simple human error.”
Mr. Todd also said there are no immediate security concerns, but the situation is being monitored.
“The information was taken down very quickly but, nevertheless, I do appreciate the concern, of course we will seek to find the extent to which that has been viewed,” he said.
“What I would say is that, although the error was our own, once that information was out there if anybody did have access to it I would ask them to delete it straight away.”
The incident was first reported by the Belfast Telegraph newspaper, which said it had viewed the uploaded material after being contacted by a relative of a serving officer.
Apart from the person who released the information, the PSNI was unaware of it until it was seen on a website, Mr. Todd confirmed.
“We’ve looked into the circumstances, we’ll continue with our investigation, but the very early considerations are that this is simple human error and the people who have been involved in the process have acted in good faith,” he said.
“We’ve identified some steps that we can take to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
“It is regrettable but it is simple human error.”
The response to the FOI request was an embedded table that had the rank and grade data of all employees at the PSNI, including surnames, initials, the locations of their departments, and what department they work in.
Mr. Todd said, “It is limited to surname and initial only, so there’s no other personal identifiable information contained within the information that was published.”
Terror Threat
When asked if the information could be useful to terrorist organisations, Mr. Todd said it is of “significant concern.”He added, “We operate in an environment at the moment where there’s a severe threat to our colleagues from Northern Ireland-related terrorism and this is the last thing that anybody in the organisation wants to be hearing this evening.”
Northern Ireland’s police force is significantly different to others in UK owing to the threat posed from dissident republicans who have maimed and killed officers in the past.
The terror groups oppose the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement and remain committed to using violence to try to bring about a united Ireland.
As a result, all PSNI officers carry firearms on duty, and have a choice to carry personal protection weapons while off-duty.
Most of the PSNI’s fleet of response vehicles are armoured with bullet proof windows to protect officers.
The media also takes great care not to publish information, including pictures, that could identify rank and file officers.
Owing to the serious security concerns, many officers and civilian staff—particularly those from the nationalist community—keep their occupation a secret, even from family.
In March, MI5 raised the terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland from substantial to severe, meaning an attack was highly likely.
During the Troubles, 302 police officers—who worked under the banner of the now defunct Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)—were killed in the line of duty, according to the BBC.
In 2001, the RUC was disbanded, reformed, and renamed following a recommendation from the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland.
Maimed and Murdered
Since its formation, two PSNI officers have been murdered by dissident republican terrorists.On March 9, 2009, 48-year-old Constable Stephen Carroll was shot dead as he responded to a 999 call in Lurgan.
Mr. Carroll was shot through the rear window of his police car after his patrol was lured to a residential area.
Two years later dissident republicans murdered a new PSNI recruit, Constable Ronan Kerr.
Mr. Kerr, a Catholic, was just 25 years old when he was killed after a booby-trap bomb exploded under his car outside his home in Omagh on April 2, 2011.
Many other officers have been seriously injured and maimed in attempted murder bids by republican dissidents.
In January 2010, PSNI Officer Peadar Heffron was left with life-changing injuries when a booby-trap under-car device exploded as he drove to work at Grosvenor Road police station in Belfast.
Mr. Heffron lost his right leg in the explosion and is now in a wheelchair.
