Dissident republicans claim to possess some of the information from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s “industrial-scale” data breach, the chief constable says.
Simon Byrne told a press conference in Belfast on Thursday he was “deeply sorry” about the mishandling of personal information and that the force was advising officers and staff about potential threats and risks.
“You can only imagine the unconscionable horror as people start to realise that maybe a loved one is put in jeopardy by what they are seeing,” said Byrne.
The PSNI said systemic failures led to the mistaken release of details of more than 10,000 officers and staff on Tuesday – a spreadsheet was briefly published online – plus an earlier breach in July, when a police-issue laptop, radio and documents identifying more than 200 officers and staff were stolen from a private vehicle.
Hundreds of officers have raised safety concerns and expressed anxiety, with some “really, really angry”, said Byrne, speaking after an emergency meeting with the Policing Board of Northern Ireland, which oversees the force.
He rejected suggestions from Sammy Wilson, the Democratic Unionist party MP, among others, that he should resign. “Leadership is not about walking away – it’s facing up to responsibility. We need consistency and calm heads to lead us through an unprecedented crisis.”
Dissident republicans say they have some of the data circulating on WhatsApp, said Byrne, who emphasised the claim was unverified. “We are advising officers and staff about how to deal with that and any further risk that they face.”
A group set up to examine threats and risks has received more than 500 referrals. “We have not yet redeployed anybody, for example, from their home. We’re taking steps this afternoon to reassess in some cases, which I won’t go into for operational reasons, whether we need to redeploy some specialist officers away from the usual place of work to a new location.”
Dissident republicans have targeted police in sporadic gun and bomb attacks, including an ambush in February when masked gunmen seriously wounded DCI John Caldwell in Omagh, County Tyrone. In March, authorities raised the terrorism threat level from substantial to severe, meaning the chances of an attack are deemed highly likely.
Mark Durkan, a police board member, said it was unclear if dissidents did have the information but that the authorities must assume that was the case, and that attacks may follow.
The PSNI released an Excel spreadsheet containing details of more than 10,000 officers and employees in response to a freedom of information (FoI) request. It was published on an FoI website called WhatDoTheyKnow for about two and a half hours before being removed.
The surname and first initial of every employee, their rank or grade and department, including sensitive sections such as surveillance and intelligence, were included. Durkan queried why the PSNI had responded to the request within three working days. “I have never seen as quick a response from any agency to any FoI request, never mind one that has the potential to make public very sensitive information.”
Earlier this week the UK election watchdog also had a serious data breach.
Byrne, who cut short a family holiday to return to Northern Ireland, said the laptop and radio stolen from a vehicle in Newtownabbey would be of no use to thieves. “We have means of wiping those devices remotely so we are confident that information on them would not be accessible by a third party.”
Byrne said the PSNI needed to rebuild credibility – “for some people there is a breach of trust which is exploding out at the moment” – and brace for fines and compensation claims.
“We have to make some assumptions that we are liable to financial penalty, either from the regulator or from officers making a claim about the breach of their personal data.”
