Dissident republicans claim to be in possession of information about police officers circulating on WhatsApp following a data blunder, Northern Ireland’s Chief Constable Simon Byrne has said.
Hundreds of police officers have voiced fears for their safety following the data breach which revealed the names, locations and roles of some 10,000 Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers and staff.
The blunder sparked serious security concerns because of the threat posed to PSNI officers by dissident republican paramilitaries who are committed to using violence to try and bring about a united Ireland.
Speaking following an emergency meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board on Thursday, Mr Byrne said he was “deeply sorry” about the “industrial scale breach of data”.
He said: “An early worst case scenario that we have been dealing with is that third parties would attempt to get this data to intimidate, corrupt or indeed cause harm to our 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.”
He added the force had not yet been able to verify the substance of the claim.
Up to 40 officers at MI5’s headquarters in Co Down are reportedly among the names involved in the blunder earlier this week, with moves under way to ensure their protection.
The incident happened when the PSNI responded to a Freedom of Information request seeking the number of officers and staff of all ranks and grades across the organisation.
In the published response to this request a table was embedded which contained the rank and grade data, but also included detailed information that attached the surname, initial, location and departments for all PSNI employees.
Details of another breach following the theft of documents and a laptop from a car in Newtownabbey in July emerged on Wednesday. They have not been recovered but officers said they were confident the laptop’s data could not be recovered.
Police in Northern Ireland are under a threat from terrorists assessed as severe.
Mr Byrne cut short a family holiday to return to Belfast to be questioned by politicians at the Policing Board meeting, which scrutinises the force. The meeting was held in private.
During a three-decade period of violence known as The Troubles, some 302 officers were killed by paramilitaries.
The Good Friday Agreement brought the worst of the violence to an end in 1998, but some dissident republicans still seek to bring about a united Ireland through violent means.
Between 2009 and 2017, they were responsible for the deaths of two PSNI officers, two British soldiers and two prison officers.
