An investigation has been launched after a data breach led to the details of current and former Police Ombudsman staff members being accidently released.
The Police Ombudsman (PONI) has apologised for the data leak incident involving 160 current and former staff.
A document containing some of their personal details was “inadvertently released” to 22 people who had been invited to a job interview.
The information included the surnames and first initial of all staff employed at PONI in May 2022.
PONI has contacted the Information Commissioner’s Office about the leak.
A spokesman for the ombudsman has confirmed that details of staff members who were working at the high-profile watchdog in May 2022 was “inadvertently released to 22 people who are being invited to interview as part of an ongoing recruitment exercise”.
It is understood those who received the three-page word document had applied for investigator posts at the ombudsman’s office.
It is believed chief executive Hugh Hume notified current staff members of the data breach on Friday.
The document contained the forename initial and surname of all members of staff employed at that time, “listed by the service area or team in which they work”.
It was also noted if a member of staff was part-time, agency, contracted or seconded.
Staff members who had resigned or were due to retire, were on career breaks, moving between teams or new starts, were also included.
The ombudsman’s office confirmed some forenames were included in this information.
A spokeswoman for the office said: “The office has taken immediate action to mitigate the breach, including contacting those who received the document in error.
“To date, 12 of the 22 individuals have confirmed that they have deleted the email and associated documentation.”
The spokeswoman added that former staff members are being contacted.
“We have apologised unreservedly to our current staff for the error which should not have happened and are also contacting former staff whose details are included in the document,” she said.
“In total 160 current and former staff are affected.
“We have notified the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) and will appoint an independent external investigator to review the incident and make recommendations.”
There was controversy last year when the partial names and other details of 10,000 PSNI staff members were accidentally released in response to a Freedom of Information request.
The names of PSNI officers had been online for three hours and were later removed.
The released information later ended up in the hands of dissident republicans.
It later emerged that a PSNI laptop and notebook fell from a moving vehicle on the M2 motorway in a separate data breach.
It is understood the items fell from the roof of the car as it made its way along the M2 foreshore, outside Belfast.
