Wealden Council admits it has ‘fallen short’ after data breach

Wealden District Council said it has ‘fallen short’ after suffering a data breach which resulted in residents’ personal information being accessed by a third party.
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The extent of the breach, which happened on November 10, is still being investigated, according to a council spokesperson.

The council confirmed that an individual was able to access a Wealden resident’s names, addresses, and payments due from court documents and rent statements.

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The council spokesperson added, “On Wednesday 10 November we became aware that one of our residents had inadvertently been given access to council data online via a cloud based system.

Wealden District Council said they have ‘fallen short’ after suffering a data breach which resulted in resident’s personal information being accessed by a third-party.Wealden District Council said they have ‘fallen short’ after suffering a data breach which resulted in resident’s personal information being accessed by a third-party.
Wealden District Council said they have ‘fallen short’ after suffering a data breach which resulted in resident’s personal information being accessed by a third-party.

“We took immediate action to remove access once the error had come to light.

“We are conducting our own internal investigation to establish the nature of the content shared with the individual concerned.

“We have so far found that personal data contained within a set of court documents, and that within rent statements from a small number of council tenants (including names, addresses and payment due amounts) was accessed by this individual.

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“The Council’s Data Protection Officer will be contacting those affected. We will provide another public update with any further details as our investigation progresses.

“We have always prioritised the security of data relating to our residents and customers, but regret that in this instance we have fallen short of the high standards we set ourselves.

“We sincerely apologise to any affected person for any inconvenience or distress related to this matter.”