Four data breaches in three years at Mid Sussex District Council

According to a report by Big Brother Watch, an organisation that aims to challenge policies threatening privacy, freedom and civil liberties, anti-social behaviour details for a young offender were put through the door by an external agency, despite being told to only hand it to the named recipient.

The other three incidents involved a residents’ benefit assessment sent to someone else, personal details added to the council’s website before being removed, and an email being sent to multiple contacts in the email address field.

The BBW report, a Breach of Trust, highlights all data breaches at local authorities from April 2011 to April 2014.

Jonathan Ash-Edwards, MSDC’s cabinet member for finance and service delivery, said: “We take data protection seriously and I want to assure local people that your data is safe with us.

“We handle many thousands of transactions every week and regrettably, on rare occasions, errors are made.

“In such cases, we always carry out a thorough investigation and make sure we put in place measures to prevent their reoccurrence.

“In three years we have had four breaches and, whilst each one is important, they represent a tiny fraction of our customer contacts each year.”

Emma Carr, a director at Big Brother Watch, said: “Far more could be done to prevent and deter data breaches from occurring. Better training, reporting procedures and harsher penalties available for the most serious of data breaches, including criminal records and custodial sentences are all required.

“Until we see these policies implemented, the public will simply not be able to trust local councils with their data.”

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage at www.midsussextimes.co.uk

2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/midsussextimes

3) Follow us on Twitter @midsussex_times

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Mid Sussex Times - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.