Council report reveals increase in security breach incidents putting confidential information at risk
SECURITY breaches putting council taxpayers' confidential information at risk have increased.
Post containing sensitive information has been lost, personal information has been sent to the wrong address and potentially personal or confidential documents have not been disposed of securely at the Royal Borough, an audit report has revealed.
Other gaffes include a lack of use of passwords, losing mobile phones and laptops, and unauthorised access to council buildings.
They came to light in an Interim Progress report from the Audit and Investigation Unit of the Royal Borough, which details the audits of council departments undertaken in the first half of the year.
The report states: "The number of Information Security incidents has increased recently, in some instances being highlighted during the move to Smarter Working."
Smarter Working is a council initiative which has been implemented over the past 18 months designed to save money through council officers working more flexibly, such as by sharing desks.
One issue identified is personal or confidential documents not being disposed of securely as part of office clearances, and lockable, confidential waste bins may not have been secure due to 'weak key holding procedures'.
The report adds controls over access to the bins has since been strengthened.
Independent councillor Lynne Jones said: "I think there are some departments that shouldn't work with communal workspaces with the type of information they have access to."
The report adds: "Internal Audit is working with Security Information and Data Manager and monthly meetings will be held to ensure the issues are resolved satisfactorily."
The report also reveals 338 laptops were unaccounted for in a recent survey.
The report, due to be discussed by the council's Audit and Performance Review Panel on Thursday, was only published on the council's website on
Wednesday after requests from The Observer.
The Royal Borough aims to publish reports for meetings a week before the meeting is due to be held for scrutiny by the public.
As a result of the late addition, the Royal Borough was unable to provide The Observer with further information about the number of incidents or specific details about the information put at risk.
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