Council staff personal details leaked online
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by Jenni Horn
The personal details of hundreds of
Medway Council workers have been leaked on the internet.
Police are investigating after
information about employees was published online.
The data was being held by Diagnostic
Health Solutions (DHS), a company hired by the council to monitor
the sickness levels of their staff.
The names, date of birth, staff ID
numbers, contract start dates and working hours of employees have
appeared on a website called 99w.net, but a spokesman for Medway
Council said no bank details or other sensitive information had
been published.
Around 750 council employees in the
Regeneration, Community and Culture department have been
affected.
The City of London Police confirmed it
is investigating a report of theft of data from DHS, but would not
comment any further.
A spokesman for the company said it
could not comment while the police investigation was on-going.
Medway Council was informed of the
leak on Monday and it has since terminated its contract with
DHS.
The council has written to all
employees whose information was leaked.
Robin Cooper, director of
Regeneration, Community and Culture said: "We have made all those
affected aware of the situation and assured them that no personal
data such as bank account details and salaries has been
published."
A spokesman for the council added:
"The council has written to the firm - which holds data on staff
from numerous large private companies and public sector
organisations - to terminate the contract with immediate effect
following this unacceptable data breach.
"We have also informed all staff
affected as well as unions and the Information Commissioner’s
Office."
It is thought the leak came to light
after an employee at Basildon council, which also had a contract
with DHS, spotted the data while using Google to search their own
name.
The website on which the information
appeared has now been shut down.
Thursday, February 09 2012
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