Police to increase the security of their data management

Category: Data management

3 September, 2012

Hertfordshire and Nottinghamshire police forces have pledged to increase the security of their data management after a hacker claimed to have stolen logins and passwords from their websites.

The hacker is alleged to have been acting on behalf of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is currently in stalemate with the UK government over his asylum in Ecuador.

The data, which included phone numbers and IP addresses of a number of officers in Safer Neighbourhood Teams, was published on the internet.

Hertfordshire police temporarily disabled parts of their website as the investigation took place.

In a statement, the force said: "Matters of IT security are extremely important to the Constabulary and an investigation is already under way."

This has not been the first attack on data security since the UK government said it would arrest and extradite Mr Assange if he left

Ecuador's embassy in London. Numerous websites have been hit by ‘hacktivist’ groups hoping to see him freed.

Although the forces are confident that no “personal data relating to officers or members of the public has been, or could have been compromised”, they still intend to secure their data management to protect against future attacks.

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Posted by Polly Button