Basildon Council Data Breach (2012)

Details of an Essex council's entire workforce were released online in a "serious security breach", it has said. Names, dates of birth, sickness information and work contact numbers for Basildon Council's staff of "about 1,000" were published on the internet. A council worker spotted the breach on Monday and the details were removed by Tuesday, the council said. The council believes data held by a contractor was put out by a third party. Police are investigating. The authority said the breach is believed to have been one of several within the private and public sector and that it had advised staff to report suspicious or unusual phone calls.