Investigation into Capita data breach progressing
Released: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
An investigation by Adur & Worthing Councils into a data breach involving the systems of contractor Capita is continuing.
Earlier this month we became aware of a potential breach at Capita, involving systems the company was managing for us in February 2021.
Capita then wrote to us on 16th May this year to highlight the breach. It said that the breach did not involve personal data.
Our internal investigation has involved reviewing each of the files that Capita has said was involved. Unfortunately this has revealed that those files did in fact contain some personal data belonging to around 100 Adur and Worthing residents.
We've been able to confirm that there were no names or bank or building society details of residents involved and at this stage we consider that the risk to our residents appears minimal.
Nevertheless we're continuing to investigate the breach and are liaising with the national cyber security team at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and other local authorities affected, to get further information from Capita.
We are extremely unhappy with both the data breach itself and Capita's failure to provide us with swift and accurate information about what they have discovered.
We treat data protection extremely seriously and are currently identifying each and every one of our residents that has been affected.
At this stage we believe that there is only a minimal risk to our residents but we will be contacting them to make them aware of what has happened and will keep them updated.
We are also alerting the Information Commissioner to what we have discovered and will continue to investigate how the breach happened.
There is no need for residents to do anything unless we have contacted them on this issue.
However, if you have any concerns you can contact our data protection officer by emailing:
(PR23-064)
Page last updated: 18 April 2024