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24th April 2024 Issue no. 702

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Croydon Council guilty of inadequate data security

Croydon Council has been found to have been ineffective in transmitting information about effective data protection to its staff in the wake of an investigation by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Training and guidance on data protection has been available to staff but there have been no measures in place to ensure that employees were reading and understanding the information.

The investigation came after a security breach occurred in April 2011.

A bag containing sensitive information on the care given to the victim of a child sex abuse crime was stolen from a London pub and was never recovered.

"We appreciate that people working in roles where they handle sensitive information will - like all of us - sometimes have their bags stolen. However, this highly personal information needn't have been compromised at all if Croydon Council had appropriate security measures in place," says Stephen Eckersley, head of enforcement at ICO.

The ICO has fined Croydon Council £100,000 as a result of the investigation.

22nd February 2012