DataBreaches.Net

Menu
  • About
  • Breach Notification Laws
  • Privacy Policy
  • Transparency Report
Menu

UK: Nottinghamshire County Council fined £70,000 for data protection breach

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Dissent

From the Information Commissioner’s Office:

A council has been fined £70,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for leaving vulnerable people’s personal information exposed online for five years.

The Data Protection Act requires organisations to take appropriate measures to keep personal data secure, especially when dealing with sensitive information. But Nottinghamshire County Council posted the gender, addresses, postcodes and care requirements of elderly and disabled people in an online directory which didn’t have basic security or access restrictions such as a username or password.

The matter was only discovered when a member of the public using a search engine was inadvertently able to access and view the data with no need to log in, and was concerned that it could be used by criminals to target vulnerable people or their homes – especially as it even revealed whether or not they were still in hospital.

ICO Head of Enforcement Steve Eckersley said:

“This was a serious and prolonged breach of the law. For no good reason, the council overlooked the need to put robust measures in place to protect people’s personal information, despite having the financial and staffing resources available.

“Given the sensitive nature of the personal data and the vulnerability of the people involved, this was totally unacceptable and inexcusable. Organisations need to understand that they have to treat the security of data as seriously as they take the security of their premises or their finances.”

The council had launched its ‘Home Care Allocation System’ (HCAS), an online portal allowing social care providers to confirm that they had capacity to support a particular service user, in July 2011. When the breach was reported in June 2016, the HCAS system contained a directory of 81 service users. It is understood the data of 3,000 people had been posted in the five years the system was online.

The data exposed included people’s gender, addresses and post codes, personal care needs and requirements such as the number of home visits per day, and whether they had been or were still in hospital. Although the service user’s names were not included, a determined person would be able to identify them. The council offered no mitigation to the ICO.


Related:

  • PowerSchool commits to strengthened breach measures following engagement with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
  • Hungarian police arrest suspect in cyberattacks on independent media
  • British institutions to be banned from paying ransoms to Russian hackers
  • Data breach feared after cyberattack on AMEOS hospitals in Germany
  • Inquiry launched after identities of SAS soldiers leaked in fresh data breach
  • Bitcoin holds steady as hackers drain over $40 million from CoinCDX, India's top exchange
Category: ExposureGovernment SectorNon-U.S.

Post navigation

← Largest healthcare provider in western New York successfully phished in two consecutive months
GAO to agencies: Stop using Social Security numbers for everything →

Now more than ever

"Stand with Ukraine:" above raised hands. The illustration is in blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine's flag.

Search

Browse by Categories

Recent Posts

  • PowerSchool commits to strengthened breach measures following engagement with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
  • Hungarian police arrest suspect in cyberattacks on independent media
  • Two more entities have folded after ransomware attacks
  • British institutions to be banned from paying ransoms to Russian hackers
  • Data breach feared after cyberattack on AMEOS hospitals in Germany
  • Microsoft Releases Urgent Patch for SharePoint RCE Flaw Exploited in Ongoing Cyber Attacks
  • Global hack on Microsoft product hits U.S., state agencies, researchers say
  • Inquiry launched after identities of SAS soldiers leaked in fresh data breach
  • UK sanctions Russian cyber spies accused of facilitating murders
  • Michigan ‘ATM jackpotting’: Florida men allegedly forced machines to dispense $107K

No, You Can’t Buy a Post or an Interview

This site does not accept sponsored posts or link-back arrangements. Inquiries about either are ignored.

And despite what some trolls may try to claim: DataBreaches has never accepted even one dime to interview or report on anyone. Nor will DataBreaches ever pay anyone for data or to interview them.

Want to Get Our RSS Feed?

Grab it here:

https://databreaches.net/feed/

RSS Recent Posts on PogoWasRight.org

  • British government reportedlu set to back down on secret iCloud backdoor after US pressure
  • Idaho agrees not to prosecute doctors for out-of-state abortion referrals
  • As companies race to add AI, terms of service changes are going to freak a lot of people out. Think twice before granting consent!
  • Uganda orders Google to register as a data-controller within 30 days after landmark privacy ruling
  • Meta investors, Zuckerberg reach settlement to end $8 billion trial over Facebook privacy violations
  • ICE is gaining access to trove of Medicaid records, adding new peril for immigrants
  • Microsoft can’t protect French data from US government access

Have a News Tip?

Email: Tips[at]DataBreaches.net

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

Contact Me

Email: info[at]databreaches.net

Mastodon: Infosec.Exchange/@PogoWasRight

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

DMCA Concern: dmca[at]databreaches.net
© 2009 – 2025 DataBreaches.net and DataBreaches LLC. All rights reserved.