A senior officer has disclosed that more than 20,000 details, which include the names and photos of police officers, are potentially at risk due to a recent data breach.

The breach occurred when a firm in Stockport, responsible for producing ID cards for Greater Manchester Police (GMP), fell victim to a ransomware attack last month.

Lee Rawlinson, Chief Resource Officer, characterized the incident as a "very serious event" during a public meeting. He revealed that several other law enforcement agencies and government departments had also been impacted.

Rawlinson stressed that while the data at risk was "relatively low-risk" in nature, lacking financial or specific details, it did contain the names of some officers along with their photo identifications. As a result, the breach is being treated with utmost seriousness.

The breach investigation is ongoing, and it has affected various UK organizations, including the Metropolitan Police in London.

According to Rawlinson, this incident is part of a larger national trend, with numerous police forces across the country and various government departments being affected. He estimated that over 20,000 details were potentially at risk, though a full assessment of the extent of the breach is still pending.

The Greater Manchester Police have already notified the Information Commissioner about the breach. However, GMP has not yet confirmed the exact number of officers impacted, stating that the notification process is still underway.

Last week, approximately 12,000 police officers and civilian staff within GMP were informed of the data breach. An internal email sent to GMP staff on September 13 identified the breached contractor as Digital ID, a company based in Stockport. Digital ID has not yet issued a comment on the matter. Photo by Terry from uk, Wikimedia commons.