Category Archives: Public sector

Brighton and Hove Council

Posted on by

What

Loss of sensitive personal data.

How much

Records relating to up to seven families.

Why

Theft of an unencrypted laptop during a burglary and on a separate occasion details of an employee’s income and salary deductions was accidently emailed to 2,821 employees.

Regulator

ICO

Regulatory action

Undertaking issued to ensure that that all portable media devices are suitably encrypted and appropriate administrative measures are put into place to control employee use of email groups.

Reason for action

The laptop was stolen from the home of a sessional worker, a casual employee under contract for a specific assignment. The data sent to the worker was supposed to have been anonymised, but had not been.

When

10 February 2012.

Links

View PDF of the Brighton and Hove Council Undertaking (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the Brighton and Hove Council Undertaking (Breach Watch Archive)

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council

Posted on by

What

Inappropriate disclosure of personal and sensitive personal data on several occasions.

How much

29 records at minimum.

Why

On one occasion an individual received a letter relating to alleged benefit fraud concerning a third party and received a list of 29 occupants residing at two supported housing properties. Additionally on two later occasions customer details were inappropriately disclosed and personal data was made available online for a several days.

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

These numerous breaches in close proximity highlighted a lack of sufficient training and security measures relating to data protection amongst staff. The Commissioner is satisfied that the data controller will implement suitable remedial steps however

When

10 February 2012.

Links

View PDF of the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council Undertaking (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council Undertaking (Breach Watch Archive)

Southampton City Council

Posted on by

What
Breach of the Data Protection Act

How much
Unknown.

Why
The data controller required taxi operators to record all conversations and images while the vehicles were in use.

Regulator
ICO

Regulatory action
Enforcement Notice issued, requiring the data controller to erase any personal data in the audio recordings that have already been obtained and held, and refrain from recording any such personal data in the future.

Reason for action
The recording policy was considered unnecessary and fundamentally invasive to private individuals using the car, be they driver or passenger.

The Enforcement notice was upheld on appeal to the first-tier (Information Rights) tribunal.When
7 February 2012

Links
View PDF of the Southampton City Council Enforcement Notice (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the Southampton City Council Enforcement Notice (Breach Watch Archive)

Staffordshire County Council

Posted on by

What
Breach of the Data Protection Act

How much
Unknown.

Why
The data controller failed to respond to an individual’s subject access request in the prescribed period of 40 days.

Regulator
ICO

Regulatory action
Enforcement Notice issued, requiring the data controller to supply the individual with a copy of a document within 35 days of the Notice being issued.

Reason for action
The data controller failed to inform the individual, without undue delay, whether personal data relating to him was being processed by it or on its behalf.

When
7 February 2012

Links
View PDF of the Staffordshire County Council Enforcement Notice (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the Staffordshire County Council Enforcement Notice (Breach Watch Archive)

Midlothian Council

Posted on by

Breach details

What Inappropriate disclosure of sensitive personal data on five separate occasions.
How much Five records.
When March 2011
Why Personal data relating to children and their carer were sent to the wrong recipients on five separate occasions.

Regulatory action

Regulator ICO
Action Monetary penalty of £ 140,000
When 30 01 2012

Why the regulator acted

Breach of act Multiple letters were sent to the wrong recipient.
Inappropriate organisational and technical measures.
Known or should have known Following the first breach the risk was clear, yet 4 more breaches occurred over the next month.
Likely to cause damage or distress Personal information of vulnerable individuals.

Links

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

Chartered Institute of Public Relations

Posted on by

What

Loss of sensitive personal data.

How much

30 records.

Why

30 Membership forms were lost on a train.

Regulator

ICO

Regulatory action

Undertaking issued to ensure that a document is created that clearly outlines all employees’ responsibilities in terms of the storage, transmission, use and disposal of personal data. All necessary amendments must be made by 31 January 2012

Reason for action

The organisation did not have a written policy in place for handling personal data outside of the office at the time of incident.

When

18 January 2012.

Links

View PDF of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Undertaking (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Undertaking (Breach Watch Archive)

Powys County Council

Posted on by

Breach details

What Disclosure of sensitive personal information.
How much 19 records.
When 4 February 2011
Why A member of the public received a children protection report on an unrelated child along with a document concerning her own child due to an employee of the data controller accidentally mixed in another colleague’s work when collecting printing from a shared printer. Although the Data Controller had said that they considered Data Protection training vital they had not made the completion of such training mandatory. This was the second of such incidents.

Regulatory action

Regulator ICO
Action Monetary penalty of £ 130,000
Enforcement Notice Issued to ensure that by 31 March 2012 all staff with access to personal data must undergo full data protection training and that an accurate record must be kept of this training
When 6 December 2011

Why the regulator acted

Breach of act Data sent to an incorrect recipient.
Inappropriate organisational and technical measures.
Known or should have known Following the previous breach the risk was clear, but insufficient measures were taken to prevent this second breach.
Likely to cause damage or distress Data related to a child and has the potential for misuse.

Links

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

Worcestershire County Council

Posted on by

Breach details

What Inappropriate disclosure of sensitive personal information.
How much “A large number” of records.
When Unknown
Why A member of staff accidently clicked on an additional contact list while sending out an email intended for internal use and so two spreadsheets containing sensitive personal information were sent to 23 registered care providers.

Regulatory action

Regulator ICO
Action Monetary penalty of £ 80,000
When 28 November 2011

Why the regulator acted

Breach of act Staff were not provided with sufficient training and internal and external email distribution lists were not clearly differentiated.
Inappropriate organisational and technical measures.
Known or should have known Employees routinely dealt with confidential and sensitive personal data and manages should have realised the potential for human error when selecting emails lists.
Likely to cause damage or distress Details of vulnerable young adults.

Links

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

North Somerset Council

Posted on by

Breach details

What Inappropriate disclosure of sensitive personal information.
How much Two records.
When 12 November 2010
Why A council employee accidently sent five emails (on separate occasions), two of which contained highly sensitive information relating to a child’s serious case review, to the wrong NHS employee.

Regulatory action

Regulator ICO
Action Monetary penalty of £ 60,000
When 28 November 2011

Why the regulator acted

Breach of act Staff not given sufficient information governance training and management should have signed off on emails, ensuring that all sensitive data was encrypted.
Inappropriate organisational and technical measures.
Known or should have known Data controller was used to handling confidential and sensitive data and should have been aware of the “self evident” risks of drop down email menus. Repeated breaches demonstrate this fact.
Likely to cause damage or distress Data related to vulnerable individuals and could be misused.

Links

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

London Borough of Southwark

Posted on by

What

Loss of sensitive personal data.

How much

7,200 records.

Why

An unencrypted iMac and paper records were found by a member of the public in a skip being used to cleanse a decommissioned and vacant property that had previously been part of a complex previously owned by the data controller.

Regulator

ICO

Regulatory action

Undertaking issued to ensure that the data controller will demonstrate adherence to the action plans to deal with the issue that it has presented to the data commissioner and that it will honour its invitation for the ICO to conduct a data protection audit.

Reason for action

Although the Data Controller demonstrated plans to deal with the breach, the iMac had been missing since 2003 and was unencrypted and any member of the public would have been able to remove the data contained on it.

When

21 November 2011.

Links

View PDF of the London Borough of Southwark Undertaking (Via ICO Website)

View PDF of the London Borough of Southwark Undertaking (Breach Watch Archive)