Investigation into Freedom of Information request data breach

An investigation into a data protection breach involving Freedom of Information requests is ongoing, the information commissioner has confirmed.

The probe is into unauthorised access to the personal data of those who made requests to 20 Manx public authorities between 1 April 2022 and 22 March.

Iain McDonald said a senior officer at the Cabinet Office had accessed information contained in 540 requests on more than 1,200 occasions.

It was not yet known why, he said.

While the majority of the bodies were part of the government, they included the Isle of Man Constabulary and Attorney General's Chambers, which are independent.

Information Commissioner Mr McDonald said the investigation had been launched "following receipt of a personal data breach report, made in accordance with Article 33 of the Applied GDPR, from the Department of Health and Social Care".

Last week the government issued a media release confirming that it had been notified of a "low-level breach".

The government said it related to "access by an individual from a public authority with administration rights to information requests submitted to other public authorities".

An audit of the access logs by all public authorities, which was requested by the commissioner, had "identified a number of occasions where their information requests were viewed by a third party from another public authority", it said.

Mr McDonald said although the government's media release would "appear to be premature, presumptive and potentially prejudicial to the ongoing investigations", it had become necessary for the office to confirm the investigation was under way as the office had now received queries from the public.

"At present, the purpose for which the personal data was accessed and further processed is unknown, nor is it known why the breaches went undetected by the system administrator," he added.

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