Newcastle City Council leaked private information

A Newcastle City Council employee accidently leaked private information of 2,743 adopted children via an email attachment

The council employee attached the document to 77 email recipients, containing an invitation to the council’s summer adoption party, with 2,743 childrens information attached.

The leak included the names, addresses, birthdays, parents and adoptive parents of the children.

Newcastle City Council blamed the human error on a data leak that could have been prevented by the correct security controls.

Vice President at the digital workspace technology firm RES, John Allaway, said: “If a company’s network can determine an employee’s seniority and role and understand their access rights, usual behavioural trends and common locations, then it can prevent, or at least warn against, something that doesn’t seem right.

“Similarly, with internal documents, only verified machines connected to a company’s network should be able to open such a sensitive file.”

Egress Software Technologies CEO, Tony Pepper added: “We are handling more data than ever before and that means more focus needs to be placed on better supporting staff.”

The employee resigned shortly after the incident, and the council has investigated the incident.

Written by Leah Alger

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