AN INTERNAL investigation is under way following a breach of council data including court documents and council tenant’s rent statements.
The data breach, which was on Wednesday, November 10, happened after a person was “inadvertently” given access to council data online via a cloud based system.
Wealden District Council has said it is conducting its own “internal investigation” to understand the full nature of the content shared with the individual, but added it has so far found out that court documents and rent statements for council tenants were breached.
The council has also reported the breach to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), alongside its investigation.
A council spokeswoman said: “We took immediate action to remove access once the error had come to light.
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“We have reported the breach to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), with whom we will be fully cooperating in respect of this matter.
“In the meantime, we are conducting our own internal investigation to establish the nature of the content shared with the individual concerned. We have so far found that personal data contained within a set of court documents, and that within rent statements from a small number of council tenants (including names, addresses and payment due amounts) was accessed by this individual.
“With support from the ICO, we will be doing all we can in the coming days, weeks and months to review all our data management procedures; and where necessary we will strengthen them to ensure that this does not happen again.
“The council’s data protection officer will be contacting those affected. We will provide another public update with any further details as our investigation progresses.
“We have always prioritised the security of data relating to our residents and customers, but regret that in this instance we have fallen short of the high standards we set ourselves. We sincerely apologise to any affected person for any inconvenience or distress related to this matter.”
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