An ex-Northern Ireland police officer whose husband is in the force has said two data breaches were a “monumental cock up” which floored her family.
The woman left the police due to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
She told the BBC she could not sleep after news broke that personal details of all NI police officers and staff had been accidentally published, and her medication had been increased.
The chief constable apologised for the breaches.
The former officer, who the BBC is not naming for security reasons, said she found out about them via WhatsApp,
“The first I heard about it was the other day on WhatsApp before my husband had even got in from work. I told him [about the breaches] – which is ridiculous, bearing in mind I’m retired now,” she said.
The woman said she retired from the force due to PTSD from incidents experienced in the course of her job.
“I served for many, many years in some volatile areas and took my personal safety very seriously. Even to this day I still check under my car,” she said.
The retired officer said the news had heightened her fears for herself and her family,
“We were always looking over our shoulder but now even more so. I didn’t sleep on Tuesday night. I really wasn’t very good at all.
“I had to go back to my doctor – they prescribed me more diazepam.
“It’s just the impact – all of a sudden I feel like I’m back in the job again and that really isn’t good for me.”
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) mistakenly shared details about 10,000 of its employees on Tuesday.
Details of a second data breach from July emerged less than 24 hours later.
The breaches have caused shock among officers, many of whom try not to reveal their occupation to people, including their friends and family, due to security reasons.
In the most recent major attack in February, an off-duty senior detective suffered life-changing injuries after being shot several times by dissident republican paramilitaries.
‘I feel exposed’
A serving officer told the BBC’s Today programme he felt let down by the PSNI.
The officer, who is originally from England, said that with access to his surname, “it wouldn’t take much to track myself or my wife and children down”.
“I feel exposed, I feel vulnerable,” he added.
“If it gets into the hands of [dissident republicans], then that’s where the most damage will be caused,” he said.
The officer said he also suffered with PTSD and since news of the data breaches his symptoms including sleepless nights, paranoia, and anxiety had all worsened.
Dissident republicans have claimed they have obtained the data leaked, but the PSNI said it had not been able to verify that claim.
Image source, PA Media
Chief Constable Simon Byrne said he had spoken to officers and staff and realised some were anxious, frustrated and angry
Chief Constable Simon Byrne said on Thursday that a PSNI unit set up to support staff affected by the security breaches had already received more than 600 referrals.
He said he was “deeply sorry” about the two “industrial-scale” breaches.
Police officers have told their bosses that they are worried about their safety after the incidents.
Mr Byrne said he had spoken to his officers and staff and had realised that some were “anxious, frustrated and really, really angry”.
“You can only imagine the unconscionable horror as people start to realise that maybe a loved one is put in jeopardy by what they are seeing,” he said.
‘Monumental cock up’
The former officer told the BBC the amount of information that had been leaked defeated all the protections officers put on themselves,
“It is nothing short of a monumental cock up,” she said.
“For years and years you have protected your identity, your job, some of your neighbours don’t even know what you do and now all of a sudden this list – it’s out there.
“There’s no point in them saying that only a hundred people downloaded it, that doesn’t matter, the digital footprint is out there – it’s back to that whole trusting nobody all over again.”
The information appeared online for three hours on Tuesday and led to the PSNI updating security advice to its officers and staff.
The surname and first initial of every employee, their rank or grade, where they are based and the unit they work in, including sensitive areas such as surveillance and intelligence, were included.
Information about the second data breach, involving the theft of a spreadsheet with the names of 200 officers and staff, emerged on Wednesday.
The PSNI said documents, along with a police-issue laptop and radio, were believed to have been stolen from a private vehicle in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, on 6 July.
Image source, PA/Liam McBurney
Naomi Long said questions had to be answered about how data was held
Former justice minister and Alliance Party leader Naomi long said there were “some very serious questions” for the person the information was stolen from.
She also said the breaches raised questions about how data was held.
“There were excel spreadsheets that appear to be unencrypted or with password protection – it’s inexplicable,” she said.
Mrs Long said the claim from dissident republicans that they had the data confirmed “the inevitable consequence of the breach of this scale”.
“Staff members who never expected their information to be in the pubic domain and officers who undertake more sensitive roles- those officers will see it as a seismic shift in their own safety,” she told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme.
Mr Byrne has said he will not resign amid the crisis and offered an apology from himself and his senior team.
