Serious Swansea Council data breach

There has been a serious Swansea Council data breach that has affected vulnerable adults and children that was discovered in December 2018.

In this remarkable case, a diary was found on the side of the A48 road in Carmarthenshire. The diary contained personal and confidential information about vulnerable adults and children and is thought to belong to a Swansea Council employee.

It has yet to be determined how the diary ended up abandoned at the side of the road. What we know for certain is that proper care for sensitive data has not been upheld.

About the Swansea Council data breach

In this recent Swansea Council data breach, confidential data has been found abandoned at the side of the road. The data was contained in a diary as opposed to being stored electrically where it could have been encrypted and protected.

Data contained in the diary included information about vulnerable adults and children, such as:

• Names;
• Addresses;
• Contact telephone numbers;
• Dates of birth;
• Details about visits;
• Additional contact information for members of the public and the police.

The data breach is reportedly under investigation, with Swansea Council saying that they’re taking it seriously.

Swansea Council data breach unsurprising

News of this Swansea Council data breach is, unfortunately, somewhat unsurprising.

We know that there’s still a lack of care and diligence when it comes to private and sensitive data that’s held by local councils. We know this because a huge portion of the thousands of people who approach us for help are asking us to represent them for council data breach claims.

A large volume of the claims we take forward are for data breaches involving a local council.

Councils and local authority agencies hold a significant amount of data about people. Some of that data is about vulnerable people, and some of the data is incredibly private and sensitive.

We trust that the data is being properly looked after, but we can’t always be sure that it is.

A big question to be asked in the aftermath of the Swansea Council data breach is about digital data vs handwritten data. Digital data can be secured and encrypted and can be far safer in transit when it’s in a digital format. We live in an age where technology is highly accessible, so this is something they will need to carefully consider.

It’s understood that the relevant authorities have been made aware about the breach.

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