By Council data breach in Portsmouth
It has been revealed that Portsmouth City Council could face a fine for millions of pounds because of a breach in personal data.
A laptop and paperwork containing the personal records of six service users, four adults and two children, have been stolen from an employees car.
The information included details about their schools, family and health.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, if found to be guilty of a data breach, the city council could be fined up to £17m or four percent of the council’s annual turnover.
The incident is under investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office, which has the power to fine organisations for data breaches.
A council spokesman said:
“We have robust security measures, including encrypting personal data and equipment.
We always strive to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information, in accordance with data protection law.
All breaches are taken very seriously and we examine each one to see what action needs to be taken and what lessons can be learned. We report serious data breaches to the ICO in line with their published guidance.
In the last four years we’ve reported 13 incidents, 12 of which resulted in a decision by the ICO to take no action.”
The authority said since the theft it had implemented a number of measures to improve data security.
A report is soon to be heard by the council’s governance and audit standards committee.
It is reported that between July 2019 and January 2020 there were 42 other incidents of data breaches at the council. Over 1,040 people are considered to potentially be at risk.
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