The recent data breach by someone within the Northern Ireland Police Service, whether civilian worker or police officer, is incalculable in its implications and ramifications!
That the full details of serving officers and civilian staff should have been made available to all and sundry, including terrorists, is incomprehensibly incompetent to say the least!
Mr Jim Allister KC, leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice, has quite rightly asked the Chief Constable the following astute questions,
We wait with interest the response of the Chief Constable!
Sincerely in Christ’s name, Ivan Foster
TUV challenges Chief Constable on data breaches
10th August, 2023.
Dear Chief Constable,
Re: Recent catastrophic data breach
I would like some clear answers arising from the above.
*Is there an internal audit trail of everyone concerned in processing this request within the PSNI? (These people must be held to account.)
*What supervision, and at what level, was there of those who put the information together?
*At what level was the intended FOI response checked? I note references to a junior member of staff compiling the information, but is there no threshold of seniority as to who has access to such information? How, if correct, did a junior member of staff come to be handling this information?
*Was the compiler a civilian member of staff, a full employee, an agency worker or a police officer?
*What level of security clearance did the compiler hold?
*What were the supervision arrangements in place and were they fully followed? Supervision, or lack of it, seems to me a key consideration, with scapegoating of junior staff not acceptable.
*What was the status of the person(s) who signed off on the release?
*What is/was the function and responsibility of a) ACC Todd and b) yourself in oversight of data handling?
*Is mishandling/disclosure of sensitive/classified information regarded as gross misconduct with dismissal consequences?
*As Chief Constable how far do you take responsibility for this disaster, or where does the buck stop?
I suspect you will seek to brush aside my questions under the guise of an ongoing investigation, but you should realise that public confidence in you and your staff is in play here and you should not compound the situation by prevaricating and seeking refuge from answering.
Yours sincerely,
Jim Allister