Police Service of Northern Ireland

Disclosed Aug 8, 20239,483 affectedSettled

FOI spreadsheet exposed all 9,483 PSNI officers and staff; ICO fine of GBP 750,000

On 8 August 2023 PSNI published a freedom of information response to WhatDoTheyKnow with a hidden worksheet listing surnames, initials, ranks and roles of its entire workforce; it was removed within hours. The ICO fined PSNI GBP 750,000 under its public sector approach, saying the fine would otherwise have been GBP 5.6M.

What is known

People affected	9,483 (as reported by the organization)
Disclosed	Aug 8, 2023
Discovered	Aug 8, 2023
Attack	Exposed data
Data exposed	NamesEmployment
Sector	Government · GB
Status	Settled
Lawsuit or fine	GBP 750,000 ICO fine (Oct 2024) (about $980K)

Sources

Newsedition.cnn.com

PSNI data breach: Northern Ireland police investigating 'calamitous' leak

Regulatorico.org.uk

Poor PSNI procedures culminate in GBP 750k fine

Regulatorico.org.uk

ICO: Police Service of Northern Ireland

Notices filed

TotalAug 8, 2023

ResearchCount not stated

TotalAug 8, 2023

Research9,483 people

regulator:GBOct 3, 2024

UK ICOCount not stated

History of this record

source_type2026-09-25

press to regulatorby seedSource

source_url2026-09-25

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/09/uk/psni-data-breach-gbr-intl/index.html to https://ico.org.uk/action-weve-taken/enforcement/2024/10/police-service-of-northern-ireland-mpn/by seedSource

verified_by2026-09-25

empty to researchby seedSource

verified2026-09-25

0 to 1by seedSource

fine_usd2026-09-25

empty to 980000by seedSource

lawsuit2026-09-25

GBP 750,000 ICO fine (September 2024) to GBP 750,000 ICO fine (Oct 2024)by seedSource

attack2026-09-25

insider to misconfigurationby seedSource

records_basis2026-09-25

empty to organizationby seedSource

records2026-09-25

empty to 9483by seedSource

discovered2026-09-25

empty to 2023-08-08by seedSource

summary2026-09-25

In response to a freedom of information request, the PSNI accidentally published a spreadsheet listing the surnames, initials, ranks, locations and departments of all its officers and staff, which stayed online for about two hours. Dissiden to On 8 August 2023 PSNI published a freedom of information response to WhatDoTheyKnow with a hidden worksheet listing surnames, initials, ranks and roles of its entire workforce; it was removed within hours. The ICO fined PSNI GBP 750,000 undby seedSource

title2026-09-25

PSNI mistakenly publishes names and roles of all officers and staff online to FOI spreadsheet exposed all 9,483 PSNI officers and staff; ICO fine of GBP 750,000by seedSource

Added2026-09-25

First recordedby seedSource

First seen 2026-09-25 (Research), confirmed by Research. Record counts are as reported. Not legal advice.

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