The police forces of Norfolk and Suffolk have reported errors with the information they released in response to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for crime statistics, processed between April 2021 and March 2022.
You’re not seeing double – yet another UK copshop is confessing to a data leak – The Register
The information released related to crime reports and included personal identifiable information, covering a range of offences, including domestic incidents, sexual offences, assaults, thefts and hate crime. Victims, witnesses and suspects were all included.
The reason given was a “technical issue” and the police also state that it was “some raw data” included in the files but “The data was hidden from anyone opening the files”. Now I am not sure what hidden means in this context – lines on a spreadsheet hidden, who knows, but their statement does not say that the data was inaccessible to anyone with the files.
For your take away on this – it is still the same as I wrote for the Police Service of Northern Ireland data leaks here:
Police Service of Northern Ireland Data Leaks
Clive Catton MSc (Cyber Security) – by-line and other articles
Further Reading
Press notice regarding data breach at Norfolk and Suffolk police