UK election watchdog admits it did not pass assessment in 2021, when voter data security was breached
The Electoral Commission has admitted it failed a cybersecurity test in the same year that hackers successfully attacked the organisation.
The UK’s elections watchdog said it did not pass a Cyber Essentials test, a voluntary government-backed scheme that assesses an organisation’s readiness against cyber-attacks.
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Company says it is investigating the potential exposure of referral letters, patient names, contact details and Medicare numbers
Ten years worth of pathology referral letters may have been exposed in a cybersecurity incident affecting the Victorian pathology clinic TissuPath.
The government is aware of the data breach as well as potential incidents affecting real estate firm Barry Plant and owners corporation management company Strata Plan, national cybersecurity coordinator Darren Goldie said in a statement.
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47,000 personnel warned of data leak risk after breach of contractor’s system, the Sun reports
The Metropolitan police is on high alert after a security breach involving the IT system of one of its suppliers, the force said.
Scotland Yard is working with the company to understand the scale of the incident.
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Almost one in three people aged 18-34 have been messaged by staff after giving personal details to a business
Almost one in three people aged 18-34 have received unwanted romantic contact after giving their personal information to a business, a UK poll has shown.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has called for recipients of such texts to come forward to help the regulator gather evidence of the impact of this phenomenon.
The ICO has an online form for people who want to report an experience of unwanted contact.
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The leak could undermine security in Northern Ireland – restoring power sharing is a political necessity at this moment
Half of the people who live in these islands have no adult memory at all of the Northern Ireland troubles. Too many of those who can remember them have allowed the bombings, shootings, riots and violence to slip from their minds in the 25 years that have passed since a peace treaty was signed in 1998. But last week’s data leak by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) ought to be a wake-up call for the forgetful, and a lightbulb moment for the unaware.
Nine days ago, in response to a freedom of information request whose provenance remains unclear, someone in the PSNI mistakenly put the names, initials, ranks, place of work and departments of all of its 10,000 officers and staff online for about three hours before they were removed. Especially in a profession where police and their families were, and sometimes still are, regular targets, it was a spectacular security breach, even in these more peaceful times.
Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist
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Personal information of people including victims of crime was included in freedom of information responses, forces say
The personal data of more than 1,000 people, including victims of crime, was included in freedom of information (FoI) responses issued by Norfolk and Suffolk police, the forces have said.
In a statement, the two East Anglian constabularies said a “technical issue” meant raw crime report data was included in a “very small percentage” of FoI responses issued between April 2021 and March 2022.
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Document with names of police officers redacted placed beside a Sinn Féin office on Falls Road
A document purportedly from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) data leak has appeared on a wall in Belfast alongside a threatening message.
The document, which had the names of police officers redacted, was posted overnight beside a Sinn Féin office on Falls Road, suggesting dissident republicans had obtained material from last week’s data breach, Gerry Kelly, the party’s policing spokesperson, said on Monday.
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A serving member of Police Service Northern Ireland on the sacrifices that have been made and the lack of support from the top
I’m a serving officer with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, from a nationalist background in West Belfast. I couldn’t join the RUC because it would have been too dangerous because of who I was and where I was from. Nevertheless, I took the plunge and eventually joined the PSNI. My immediate family had to be schooled with an elaborate backstory. Wider family were not told – I made my siblings lie to their children for years because I couldn’t trust who they would tell.
For 18 years I’ve relied on my family to help me protect my identity. I’ve denied myself a social life, and gave up sports I loved. I can’t stay in touch with old friends on social media as I need to avoid the footprint. Now this is all taken away at the click of a button (Northern Ireland police officers’ details exposed in ‘monumental’ breach, 8 August). I am worried terrorists will target my parents because it’ll be easier than getting at me.
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Police-issued laptop, radio and documents stolen from car in Northern Ireland on 6 July
About 200 police officers and staff were not informed about the theft of devices and documents with data potentially affecting them for almost a month, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has confirmed.
A police-issued laptop, radio and documents were stolen on 6 July from the car which is understood to belong to a superintendent.
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Deputy PM says technology may aid faster government decisions – but warns of massive hacking risks
Artificial intelligence could have a more significant impact on Britain than the Industrial Revolution, the deputy prime minister has said, but warned it could be used by hackers to access sensitive information from the government.
Oliver Dowden said AI could speed up productivity and perform boring aspects of jobs.
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