Human error in Tameside Council causes data leak exposing 6k people
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In a significant data breach at Tameside Council, personal information of over 6,000 staff members, including addresses and National Insurance numbers, was inadvertently leaked. Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council is the local government authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside in Greater Manchester, England. The council is responsible for providing a majority of local government services in Tameside.
This breach came to light following a Freedom of Information request in December which exposed the details butaffected staff were not informed of the incident. The leaked data encompassed sensitive details such as:
- grievance records,
- absence reasons,
- medical information,
- names,
- addresses,
- monthly salaries,
- disciplinary and probation extension details.
It has been reported that since 2018, there have been 13 such incidents. An anonymous source indicated that there was an attempt to remove this information from the council's public forum, and it was suggested that the breach involved a spreadsheet accidentally published on the council's website, which was accessed by the public.
