Council contacts 7,000 after data hack

Colchester City Council started an investigation into the data breach in May

More than 7,000 people who have been affected by a data breach have been written to by a council.

Colchester City Council said it had emailed 3,488 people on Friday and sent 3,861 letters, following the issue with the outsourcing contractor Capita.

The contractor had been running the council's benefits system and audited its council tax and benefits services for six years.

Capita said: "The data is secure and no longer accessible."

The data had been secured, Colchester City Council said

The council said Capita reported a "security issue" when personal data including names and addresses had been found "on its unsecured data storage area".

No bank details had been leaked.

Eight local authorities were involved, including Rochford District Council, which told the BBC that 93 residents had been affected.

Capita said: "The privacy and security of our client information is of the utmost importance to us."

Colchester City Council said: "Capita has since acted to secure the data and have confirmed that there is no current evidence of persons accessing the data for malicious purposes."

It said it was extremely "disappointed that Capita has failed to maintain the high-security standards it expects of its suppliers".

The Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK watchdog of information and personal data, said it was aware of two incidents concerning a cyber-attack at Capita in March 2023 and the use of publicly accessible storage.

A spokesperson said: "We are receiving a large number of reports from organisations directly affected by these incidents and we are currently making inquiries."