PSNI data breach: Second man arrested by Northern Ireland police

Police are continuing to investigate the data leak

A second person has been arrested by detectives investigating a major data breach by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

The data was accidentally shared earlier in August and included the surname and initials of 10,000 PSNI employees.

A 50-year-old man was arrested following a search in Dungiven in County Londonderry on Friday.

A 39-year-old man who was arrested on Tuesday has been released on bail.

Police said the 50-year-old had been arrested under the Terrorism Act.

Dt Ch Insp Andy Hill said the PSNI was working to establish who possessed information related to the data breach.

"We will take action to ensure that any criminality identified is dealt with robustly to keep communities, and our officers and staff who serve them, safe," he said.

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne has said the information is in the hands of dissident republicans.

Members of the Policing Board will meet the chief constable on Tuesday for an update on the data breach.

It said it will "consider any further actions necessary.

"Members will also have the opportunity to question other data loss incidents that have been reported over the course of the last week."

How did the data breach happen?

Mr Byrne has apologised for what he described as a breach of data on an "industrial scale".

It was one of two breaches that emerged over a two-day period which caused considerable concern among PSNI officers and staff, who face continuing threat from paramilitaries and must be extremely vigilant about their personal security.

In the wake of the data breach, nearly half of Northern Ireland's officers have contacted the Police Federation about potential damages.

Chief Constable Simon Byrne has said the information is in the hands of dissident republicans

The first breach happened when data was made public in error by police responding to a routine freedom of information (FoI) request.

The information appeared online for three hours last Tuesday, leading the PSNI to update its security advice to its officers and staff.

The surname and initials of every employee, their rank or grade, where they are based and the unit they work in, including sensitive areas such as surveillance and intelligence, were included.

Information about a second data breach, involving the theft of a spreadsheet with the names of 200 officers and staff, emerged the following day.

The PSNI said documents, along with a police-issue laptop and radio, were believed to have been stolen from a private vehicle in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, on 6 July.