Dissident republicans claim to have police officers’ leaked data, says Northern Ireland’s top cop

DISSIDENT republicans claim to have WhatsApps with personal details of police officers, Northern Ireland’s top cop says.

Around 10,000 names were exposed in a data breach.

Chief Constable Simon Byrne cut short a family holiday to fly back to Belfast for an emergency meeting of the policing board.

He said: “An early worst case scenario we have been dealing with is third parties would attempt to get this data to intimidate, corrupt or cause harm to officers and staff.

“We are now aware that dissident republicans claim to be in possession of some of this information circulating on WhatsApp, and as we speak we are ­advising officers and staff about how to deal with that and any further risk that they face.”

Up to 40 officers working at MI5’s HQ in County Down are among those uncovered in the security blunder.

The Police Federation for Northern Ireland, representing rank-and-file officers, has been inundated with calls from concerned cops over the error.

The surname, initial, location and department for all Police Service of Northern Ireland staff mistakenly appeared online for up to three hours this week.

Mr Byrne, who said he would not be quitting over the fiasco, said the priority had to be the safety of officers and staff.

No cops have been moved from home but some may be switched to a new workplace.

Details of another force data breach, the theft of documents and a laptop from a private vehicle in July, also emerged.