(From left) Ben Stokes, Nadiya Hussain, Elton John and Iain Duncan Smith, who were among those affected by breach. Composite: Getty Images

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data watchdog, has fined the Government £500,000 after the addresses of over 1,000 New Years Honours recipients were mistakenly published online.

The data breach occurred at 10:30pm on Friday 27 December 2019, when the personal details of more 1,097 celebrities, government employees, politicians, and officials who had received honours had their home and work addresses posted on the official UK Government website.

Amongst those who had their addresses shared publicly in a spreadsheet were musician Elton John, singer Olivia Newton-John TV cook Nadiya Hussain, cricketers Ben Stokes and Clive Lloyd, MP Iain Duncan Smith, and film director Sam Mendes.

The offending list was removed in the early hours of Saturday 28 December 2019 after members of the public raised the alarm, and replaced with a version which did not contain the personal information.

At the time there were fears due to the fact that the addresses of police working in counter-terrorism, royal protection, and undercover operations had also been revealed.

It has now been announced that the ICO is fining the UK Government’s Cabinet Office £500,000 for the breach.

So, how did the breach happen?

According to the ICO’s investigation, a new IT system was introduced into the Cabinet Office in 2019 to process the public nominations for New Years Honours.

However, the IT system was set up incorrectly – which meant that it generated a CSV file that included sensitive postal address data.

Because of “tight timescales to get the New Years Honours list published,” a decision was made to amend the file instead of fixing the IT system. However, every time a new version of the file was generated the postal addresses of those receiving hours was automatically included.

What’s the saying? Oh yes. Act in haste, repent at leisure. A little more time and care could have avoided this whole sorry mess.

The ICO’s investigation found that the personal data was available online for a period of two hours and 21 minutes and was accessed on 3,872 occasions.

Although the Cabinet Office removed the link to the file after discovering it had shared people’s personal information, the file was still cached and accessible to anyone who knew the exact URL.

Steve Eckersley, ICO Director of Investigations, said:

“When data breaches happen, they have real life consequences. In this case, more than 1,000 people were affected. At a time when they should have been celebrating and enjoying the announcement of their honour, they were faced with the distress of their personal details being exposed.”

“The Cabinet Office’s complacency and failure to mitigate the risk of a data breach meant that hundreds of people were potentially exposed to the risk of identity fraud and threats to their personal safety.”

A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office apologised for the breach, and said that an internal review had been completed and a number of measures put in place to ensure such an incident does not happen again.

Follow Our WhatsApp Channel _______________________________________________________________________

“Order Justice Omolaye-Ajileye’s Electronic Evidence Books Now” — Essential Guides On Evidence Act, Case Law And Digital Proof

Two leading books on electronic evidence by Hon. Justice Professor Alaba Omolaye-Ajileye, Rtd., PhD, FICMC, are now available for purchase. The publications, Electronic Evidence (Second Edition), With The Evidence Act, 2011 and Compendium Of Cases On Electronic Evidence, Volume II, 2020–2025, provide practical guidance, legal analysis and recent judicial authorities on electronic evidence in Nigeria.Order directly from the author here: https://velvety-cendol-7387ed.netlify.app/ _______________________________________________________________________

[A MUST HAVE] Evidence Act Demystified With Recent And Contemporary Cases And Materials

“Evidence Act: Complete Annotation” by renowned legal experts Sanni & Etti.

Available now for NGN 40,000 at ASC Publications, 10, Boyle Street, Onikan, Lagos. Beside High Court, TBS. Email publications@ayindesanni.com or WhatsApp +2347056667384. Purchase Link: https://paystack.com/buy/evidence-act-complete-annotation

______________________________________________________________________ “Enhance Legal Practice With Authoritative Reports” — Alexander Payne Offers Comprehensive Law Reports, Spanning Over A Century Of Nigerian Jurisprudence

Interested buyers are encouraged to place their orders and enquiries via: 0704 444 4777, 0704 444 4999, 0818 199 9888 Website: www.alexandernigeria.com

______________________________________________________________________ Groundbreaking Guide For Lawyers: Adigwe Publishes ‘Artificial Intelligence For Lawyers’ With Free Research eBook The book also examines Nigeria's legal ecosystem, focusing on the LPELR and NBA AI Guidelines. As a bonus, every purchase comes with a FREE eBook titled: How to Use the AI Features in LegalPedia and LawPavilion. Ohio Books Ltd praises the publication, stating: "....this is the only Nigerian book I know of on the topic." How to Order: 📞 Call, Text, or WhatsApp: 08034917063 | 07055285878 📧 Email: benadigwe1@gmail.com 🌎 Website: www.benadigwe.com Ebook Version: Access it directly online at https://selar.com/prv626 Authored by Ben Ijeoma Adigwe Esq., ACIarb (UK), LL.M, Dip. in Artificial Intelligence, Director at the Delta State Ministry of Justice, Asaba, Nigeria. ______________________________________________________________________