Top PSNI officer: Data breach has damaged trust with MI5

By Mark Rainey and Graeme Cousins
Published 9th Aug 2023, 23:39 BST
Updated 9th Aug 2023, 23:57 BST
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd speaks to media about a data breach involving officers and civilian staff, at PSNI headquarters. Photo: Rebecca Black/PA WirePSNI Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd speaks to media about a data breach involving officers and civilian staff, at PSNI headquarters. Photo: Rebecca Black/PA Wire
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd speaks to media about a data breach involving officers and civilian staff, at PSNI headquarters. Photo: Rebecca Black/PA Wire
​The PSNI will have to rebuild trust with MI5 after the major data breach on Tuesday identified 40 police officers working with the Intelligence Service, a top officer has conceded.

ACC Chris Todd apologised following the security blunder that led to highly sensitive details on 10,000 officers and staff appearing online for up to three hours.

The speadsheet containing the confidential material was inadvertently released along with the PSNI’s formal response to a routine Freedom of Information request.

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Police Federation chairman Liam Kelly said the “monumental breach” had left officers “shocked, dismayed and basically angry,” while Chief Constable Simon Byrne has cut short a family holiday to attend an emergency meeting of the Policing Board in Belfast on Thursday.

Asked specifically about the reaction of MI5 to the names of the 40 PSNI officers being placed in the public domain, ACC Todd said the incident will have damaged some “strong partnerships” the PSNI has with a number of organisations and agencies,

“We hope that we will maintain that but undoubtedly some trust and confidence will be eroded through events such as this. It is unacceptable, it’s regrettable, and something that we need to make sure doesn’t happen again,” he told the BBC’s ‘Nolan Show’.

​PSNI officers continue to live and work under threat from terrorists, with the current assessed level of threat at severe, meaning an attack is highly likely.

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One serving PSNI officer who spoke to the News Letter said they “feel sick with worry,” and that the security breach “is causing serious distress among colleagues”.

They said: “If these details fall into the wrong hands – and I’m sure those people who want to target police will find a way to get hold of them – it doesn’t bear thinking about.”

It also emerged on Wednesday that the PSNI is investigating a second data breach that occurred on July 6 when a PSNI laptop, radio and spreadsheet with the names of 200 officers was stolen from a private car.