PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne has confirmed that police in Northern Ireland are confident that dissident republicans are in possession of data containing the names, rank and places of work of over 10,000 police officers and civilian staff.
The information was published mistakenly last week and was freely available to view online for a number of hours.
On Monday, information connected to the data breach was posted on the Falls Road in Belfast opposite a Sinn Féin office. It was discovered by a member of the party who was about to open the office.
A picture of North Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly – who sits on the Policing Board – as well a message saying, "Gerry we know you your mates are," and pages containing information on police officers with their names redacted, were taped to the wall of a nearby library.
Hours after news of last week’s data breach broke, police revealed a further tranche of information had been lost when a laptop, radio and documents were stolen on July 6 from a senior police officer's car which had been parked on the outskirts of North Belfast. The PSNI is potentially facing a huge bill with compensation claims from those whose details were leaked.
Gerry Kelly said Monday’s incident was an attempt to intimidate him.
"Even more sinister, this is a very public indication that dissidents do have access to the sensitive information in the data leak document. It therefore represents a very real threat to the officers and the civilian staff involved.
"Sinn Féin represents the vast majority of people in the nationalist community and we will certainly not be intimidated by dissident groups who have virtually no support and who offer nothing but disruption and threats in an attempt to make themselves relevant. They should disband and end their anti-community activities."
PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne confirmed the police are now confident that the information which was breached is now in the hands of dissident republicans.
Chief Constable Byrne said: “The picture in relation to last week’s data breach continues to evolve at pace. We are now confident that the workforce data set is in the hands of dissident republicans.
“It is now a planning assumption that they will use this list to generate fear and uncertainty as well as intimidating or targeting officers and staff. I won’t go into detail for operational reasons but we are working round the clock to assess the risk and take measures to mitigate it."
