Category Archives: Public sector

Surrey Council

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Breach details

What Loss of sensitive personal information on three occasions.
How much 241 records.
When May – June 2010
Why Records were accidently sent out in an email copied to a global distribution list, minutes of a confidential strategy discussion erroneously emailed to a newsletter distribution group. Additional records were erroneously emailed to an incorrect internal email group.

Regulatory action

Regulator ICO
Action Monetary penalty of £ 120,000
When 9 June 2011

Why the regulator acted

Breach of act Emails were unencrypted and sent to the wrong recipients.
Inappropriate organisational and technical measures.
Known or should have known The risk of incorrect drop down boxes being selected were “self evident”.
Likely to cause damage or distress Records related to special needs.

Links

View PDF of the Surrey Council Monetary Penalty Notice (Breach Watch Archive)
View PDF of the Surrey Council Monetary Penalty Notice (Via ICO Website)

North Lanarkshire Council

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What

Loss of sensitive personal data.

How much

Six records.

Why

A home support worker’s bag which contained hard copies of records relating to vulnerable individuals was stolen.

Regulator

ICO

Regulatory action

Undertaking issued to ensure that adequate security measures and implemented for hard copy documentation and that such documents contain the minimum amount of personal data necessary.

Reason for action

The home support worker’s bag was not locked and further investigation revealed that staff were given insufficient guidance about how to use and transport such documentation.

When

08 June 2011.

Links

View PDF of the North Lanarkshire Council Undertaking (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the North Lanarkshire Council Undertaking (Breach Watch Archive)

Somerset County Council

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What

Loss of sensitive personal data.

How much

One record.

Why

An employee working on two cases inadvertently enclosed one child’s assessment letter to the other family.

Regulator

ICO

Regulatory action

Undertaking issued to ensure that procedures are implemented to record quality control checks prior to the distribution of documents.

Reason for action

The incident revealed a lack of sufficient checks and controls in areas of the data controller’s operations dealing with significant amounts of personal data.

When

13 May 2011.

Links

View PDF of the Somerset County Council Undertaking (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the Somerset County Council Undertaking (Breach Watch Archive)

Freehold Community School

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What

Loss of personal data.

How much

90 records.

Why

An unencrypted laptop and paper work was stolen from a teacher’s car.

Regulator

ICO

Regulatory action

Undertaking issued to ensure that portable media devices are suitably encrypted.

Reason for action

The data controller was unaware of the necessity to ensure the encryption of portable media devices.

When

21 April 2011.

Links

View PDF of the Freehold Community School Undertaking (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the Freehold Community School Undertaking (Breach Watch Archive)

NHS Birmingham East and North

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What

Sensitive personal information kept insufficiently secure.

How much

“Thousands” of records.

Why

The data controller realised that its own employees could access restricted information relating to patients.

Regulator

ICO

Regulatory action

Undertaking issued to ensure that technical security measures are adequate to ensure the security of data.

Reason for action

The data controller brought the matter to the attention of the Data Commissioner. Although this data was only accessible internally it was felt that this displayed inadequate security.

When

20 April 2011.

Links

View PDF of the NHS Birmingham East and North Undertaking (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the NHS Birmingham East and North Undertaking (Breach Watch Archive)

Norwich City College of Further and Higher Education

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What

Loss of sensitive personal information on two occasions.

How much

80 records.

Why

Hard copy records were disposed of inappropriately and insecurely.

Regulator

ICO

Regulatory action

Undertaking issued to ensure that a formal policy for the disposal of confidential waste be written and implemented.

Reason for action

The records were disposed of in standard black bin liners and were thrown into a skip on college grounds by cleaning staff, the same as any other waste.

When

19 April 2011.

Links

View PDF of the Norwich City College of Further and Higher Education Undertaking (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the Norwich City College of Further and Higher Education Undertaking (Breach Watch Archive)

Borough of Poole

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What

Loss on sensitive personal information on three occasions.

How much

Three records

Why

Faxes containing  personal information were erroneously sent to the wrong number.

Regulator

ICO

Regulatory action

Undertaking issued to ensure that staff are sufficiently training in both the usage of and policies relating to the transmission of data via, fax machines.

Reason for action

Insufficiently clear instructions and training was provided to staff.

When

19 April 2011.

Links

View PDF of the Borough of Poole Undertaking (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the Borough of Poole Undertaking (Breach Watch Archive)

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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What

Loss of sensitive personal data.

How much

750 records.

Why

Loss of an unencrypted memory stick.

Regulator

ICO

Regulatory action

Undertaking issued to ensure that portable media devices are sufficiently encrypted and that staff are trained in the transportation of such data.

Reason for action

Sensitive personal information should never have been transported off site in an unencrypted media device.

When

15 April 2011.

Links

View PDF of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Undertaking (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Undertaking (Breach Watch Archive)

Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence

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What

Possible loss of sensitive personal information.

How much

Three records

Why

Discovery that some hard copy files relating to cases could not be accounted for.

Regulator

ICO

Regulatory action

Undertaking issued to ensure that all correspondence regarding personal data is adequately protected and a permanent system for the logging of data is put into place.

Reason for action

It was impossible, due to insufficient data tracking, to be sure if the data had ever been received by the data controller, let alone lost.

When

15 April 2011.

Links

View PDF of the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence Undertaking (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence Undertaking (Breach Watch Archive)

NHS Liverpool Community Health

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What

Loss of sensitive personal information.

How much

31 records

Why

Files were transported in uncollected crates by a removal company which the data controller did not have a contract with.

Regulator

ICO

Regulatory action

Undertaking issued to ensure that written contracts are used whenever third parties might have access to sensitive data and that clear and precise policies will be put into place for how to transport data while moving offices .

Reason for action

Contradictory instructions given to staff members by the removal company lead to confusion as to how the data could be transported, leading to errors made due to short notice.

When

11 April 2011.

Links

View PDF of the NHS Liverpool Community Health Undertaking (Via ICO Undertaking)

View PDF of the NHS Liverpool Community Health Undertaking (Breach Watch Archive)