Twenty Manx public authorities reprimanded for data breach

Twenty authorities have been issued a reprimand over data breaches relating to freedom of information request, the information commissioner's office said.

The Manx public bodies were all impacted by the unauthorised access to personal data in the system used by them to record and manage the requests.

The office said there was "a clear public interest" in publishing the reprimand.

The bodies must now address the issues surrounding the breach by 28 July.

The commissioner previously said a senior officer at the Cabinet Office had accessed information contained in 540 requests on more than 1,200 occasions between 1 April 2022 and 22 March.

Deputy commissioner Nicola Whiting said making the reprimand public was appropriate because of the extent of the access, the breadth of public authorities affected, and the purpose for the processing of that personal data.

The breach revolves around continued access to the freedom of information requests by the individual after the administration of the iCasework system had been transferred out of the Cabinet Office.

Ms Whiting said the reprimand had been issued due to the nature of the matter, the extent of the unauthorised access to personal data, a lack of appropriate technical and organisations measures, and a lack of contracts with the person processing the details.

In a statement the office said: "Whilst the investigation into those 20 public authorities is complete, apart from confirmation of completion of actions, an investigation into other matters remains ongoing."

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