The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) today served Ealing Council and Hounslow Council with monetary penalties for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act after the loss of two unencrypted laptops containing sensitive personal information. Ealing Council provides an out of hours service on behalf of both councils, which is operated by nine staff who work…
Category: Non-U.S.
UK: Tayside Police officer admits leaking sensitive data
A police officer has admitted leaking sensitive information to her lover who then tipped off a suspect in a criminal investigation. Police constable Karen Howie, 34, who is married to another officer, has since resigned from Tayside Police. She admitted two charges of perverting the course of justice at Dundee Sheriff Court. Her co-accused, Neil…
AU: CityCycle in privacy breach
Cameron Atfield reports: Brisbane’s CityCycle bike hire scheme has been embroiled in a massive privacy breach, with the email addresses of all its subscribers distributed in an email this afternoon. The addresses of 1306 CityCycle users were all included in the “to” field of an email sent to subscribers at 5.12pm today. The email was…
NSW officer charged with unauthorised computer access
From AAP: A NSW Police officer has been charged over what police describe as “unauthorised computer access”. The offence allegedly occurred in August last year and involves an officer who was part of the North West Metropolitan Region. The constable has been served with a court attendance notice and is expected to appear at Parramatta…
UK: Child’s police station interview discovered dumped at bus station
Mark Mcgivern reports: Confidential police videos of a little girl telling officers about alleged violent child abuse have been found at a bus station. Last night, the shocking breach of privacy over the six-year-old’s harrowing interview was the subject of an urgent inquiry. Senior Strathclyde Police officers admitted they were unsure if the tapes –…
UK: Hailsham hacker ordered to pay back £124,000
Ben Parsons reports: A computer hacker from Hailsham who set up frauds to feed a gambling habit has been ordered to pay more than £100,000. Alistair Peckover – described by police as an “obsessive loner” – used websites including Google and BT to steal people’s bank details. […] Peckover, who previously lived in Broadfield, Crawley,…