Manchester council saved bank card images on shared systems

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 20 Oct, 11:32 · Archive

Manchester City Council saved images of people's bank cards on shared internal systems, creating a critical data security risk.

Manchester City Council saved images of people's bank cards on its internal communications channels and systems to verify bank details for children's social care payments. An audit report described the practice as creating a 'critical' and 'avoidable' data security risk. The images could be seen by all social workers for that locality, business support staff and relevant finance officers.

The council said it identified the issue and took management action to address it. A council statement said that although some records remained to be removed at the time of the audit, 'these have all since been removed and there is no evidence that the information was accessed beyond its legitimate use by the team who were collating and retaining it'.

The council was asked whether it had referred the matter to the Information Commissioner's Office, but officials could not confirm this at an audit committee meeting on 13 October. The ICO subsequently said on 16 October that it had not received a report from the council about the matter. Lib Dem councillor Richard Kilpatrick called for the matter to be referred to the ICO for investigation.

Manchester council saved bank card images on shared systems — Image: BBC Manchester

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How it is being reported

Council's data security blunder over bank cards photosManchester City Council has been criticised for saving images of people's bank cards in its systems.BBC Manchester · 20 Oct, 11:14
Manchester council ‘cock-up’ caused major data security issue over bank card imagesA report revealed concern about the situation.Manchester Evening News · 20 Oct, 07:18

In this story: Manchester City Council · Information Commissioner's Office · Richard Kilpatrick · Manchester

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