The London Metropolitan Police force has taken immediate action to bolster its security after an “unauthorised access” incident was detected in the IT system of one of its suppliers. Following recent data breaches at other police forces, this development has raised concerns about the safety of sensitive information.
The affected company had access to personal data such as names, ranks, photos, vetting levels, and pay numbers of officers and staff, but no addresses, phone numbers, or financial details were compromised, according to official reports.
As revealed by The Sun on Sunday newspaper, cybercriminals apparently breached the IT systems of the firm responsible for printing identity cards and staff passes for the Met, which is the largest police force in the United Kingdom.
The London police have initiated a collaborative effort with the company in order to determine the extent of any potential security breaches and evaluate the impact on data privacy.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police was unable to provide details on the timing of the breach or the exact number of personnel affected by the incident.
In response to this report, the police force issued a statement stating that appropriate security measures have been implemented to address the situation.
The Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, expressed deep concern and anger towards the breach.
Rick Prior, the vice chair of the federation, condemned the incident as an unacceptable breach of security and expressed solidarity with the affected officers.
This incident follows the recent admission by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) that personal data of all serving members had mistakenly been made public due to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
The exposed information included the surnames, first initials, ranks or grades, locations, and units of approximately 10,000 PSNI officers and staff.
It is important to note that this breach occurred in a climate of heightened security, as the terrorism threat level in the region was raised to “severe” due to an assassination attempt on a senior police officer by dissident republicans.
In addition to the PSNI breach, Norfolk and Suffolk Police also disclosed that personal data, including information of crime victims, was mistakenly included in another FOI response, affecting over 1,000 individuals.
Furthermore, South Yorkshire Police recently self-reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office after noticing an unexplained and significant reduction in data stored within its systems.