The list was attached to the wall near the Sinn Féin office on the Falls Road
By Julian O’Neill & Alan Haslam
BBC News NI home affairs correspondent
Police are investigating a document posted on a wall in west Belfast which allegedly showed information released in a mass data breach.
Names were redacted from the document, which was posted near a Sinn Féin office alongside a photo of the party’s policing spokesperson, Gerry Kelly.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it had been “planning for this potential development”.
Mr Kelly said he would not be intimidated.
Last week, PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne said dissident groups had claimed they were in possession of the information mistakenly put into the public domain.
The document, understood to be three to four pages long, was posted overnight alongside a photograph Mr Kelly and a threatening message which read: “Gerry we know who your mates are”.
Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd said: “We are aware that some redacted information from Tuesday, 8 August data breach has allegedly been posted on a wall in west Belfast.
“We have commenced an investigation into this matter.”
A ‘sinister’ document was posted outside Sinn Féin office, says Gerry Kelly
Mr Kelly said a Sinn Féin staff member noticed the document on the side of a library opposite the office and took it off the wall “immediately”.
CCTV cameras by the office had not been working.
“It did not have the names of the officers involved but it had everything else. It was not the whole 10,000 but it was a substantial number,” he added.
“I look upon this as a deliberate threat by dissidents to me – I won’t be intimidated.
“This is the dissidents putting out their claim that they have access to the leaked documents.
“It was put there to say: ‘We do have this’.”
DUP MLA Trevor Clarke, who is also a member of the Policing Board, said the documents being posted on the wall “is clearly an attempt not just to score political points, but to heighten concerns amongst those within the PSNI”.
“This incident does not change the overall focus of the police, but it reinforces that the threat from this leak will have to be monitored potentiality for some years to come,” he said.
Potential damages
Meanwhile, nearly half of Northern Ireland’s police officers have contacted the Police Federation about a potential damages case after the mass data leak.
The 3,000 officers were among those whose identities and place of work were revealed by mistake by the PSNI.
All are likely to be in line for some form of compensation.
It is thought the bill could run into tens of millions of pounds.
Nearly two thousand officers and support staff have flagged up personal security concerns caused by the leak.
One worker told BBC News NI he no longer felt safe
It is understood some PSNI employees have expressed worry about continuing to work where they are currently based.
A number have spoken anonymously to BBC News NI about their safety fears following the data breach.
One PSNI support worker said he no longer feels safe in his home.
The man said he had made changes to his daily life and no longer attended his child’s Gaelic football training.
Before the leak he had taken steps to conceal his profession, he said.
The worker, who is based outside Belfast, said many of his colleagues were in “extreme panic”, especially those with unique surnames.
He said some are no longer travelling to work in their own vehicles and many have changed their names on social media or deleted their accounts entirely.
What information was released?
Image source, PA Media
Chief Constable Simon Byrne has apologised for what he called a breach on an “industrial scale”
Details released in the breach included the surname and first initial of every employee, their rank or grade, where they are based and the unit they work in, which includes sensitive areas such as surveillance and intelligence.
The PSNI’s chief constable has apologised for what he described as an “industrial-scale breach” of personal data.
In March, the terrorist threat level in Northern Ireland was raised from substantial to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely.
It followed an attack on an off-duty senior detective, who suffered life-changing injuries after being shot several times by dissident republican paramilitaries.
Meanwhile, it emerged on Saturday that 200 officers and staff were not informed of the theft of personal data from a superintendent’s car for a month after it was stolen.
A document containing the names of officers and staff was taken along with a police-issue laptop on 6 July.
BBC News NI understands that what happened during the weeks before 4 August, when staff and officers were told of the breach, is being urgently reviewed.
Police said the nature of the missing data had to be confirmed.
The Superintendents’ Association of Northern Ireland (SANI) confirmed one of its members was involved.
