Data rules breached 18,000 times by bungling law enforcement agencies last year
LAW enforcement agencies breached data rules almost 18,000 times last year with a series of gaffes.
Blunders included a classified Home Office terrorism report being left at a London stadium after a sporting event.
Among CPS mistakes was a disc containing a video interview with a sex crime victim being lost, while a witness statement was sent to the defendant.
At the Ministry of Justice, one worker’s Office 365 cloud account was compromised — allowing access to personal details in hundreds of divorce proceedings.
It also admitted a string of incidents in which sensitive information was sent to the wrong person in child custody and non-molestation cases.
In all, the three agencies — Home Office, CPS and MoJ — were responsible for an average of 49 data breaches a day last year.
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Many were minor, but 51 incidents led to formal investigations.
Data security expert Graham Cluley said: “Victims deserve much better treatment from law enforcement agencies.”
A government spokesman said errors and data breaches are “extremely rare” but each is taken seriously and extra training has been introduced.