Adur and Worthing council contractor in data breach

About 100 residents could have been affected, the councils have said

The personal information of about 100 people could have been leaked in a data breach, two local councils have said.

Adur and Worthing councils said the breach had taken place at the outsourcing firm Capita, involving systems it had been managing for the local authorities in February 2021.

A spokesman for Capita said the firm was working to investigate the issue.

Capita notified the councils on 16 May and claimed the breach did not involve personal data.

But an investigation by the authorities found that the documents involved in the breach did contain personal information belonging to about 100 residents.

The councils are now identifying those affected.

'Extremely unhappy'

The councils said they were able to confirm that no residents' names or bank or building society details were involved and at this stage the risk appeared minimal.

They are continuing to investigate and liaising with a government cyber security team and other authorities affected.

"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," a spokesman for Adur and Worthing councils said.

"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."

A Capita spokesman said: "We are working with our third-party technical advisors to investigate this issue. The data is secure and no longer accessible. Our investigations into the matter are ongoing. The privacy and security of our client information is of the utmost importance to us."

The company said it wrote to local authority clients who were affected in a timely way and provided all data involved.

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