THE Cabinet Office has apologised after a list of home addresses of thousands of New Year Honours recipients was accidentally posted online.
The blunder meant the home details for the majority of the 1097 people who received awards were visible in a spreadsheet for more than an hour.
The list included senior police officers, counter-terrorism officers, politicians, military figures and celebrities.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) last night confirmed it was investigating the breach.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “A version of the New Year Honours 2020 list was published in error which contained recipients’ addresses. The information was removed as soon as possible.
“We apologise to all those affected and are looking into how this happened.
“We have reported the matter to the ICO and are contacting all those affected directly.”
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The list saw awards given to top entertainers including Sir Elton John, prominent figures from politics and sporting stars including Scottish women’s football legend Rose Reilly and golfer Catriona Matthew.
Among those honoured were the former director of public prosecutions Alison Saunders, TV cook Nadiya Hussain, former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Ross McEwan and former Ofcom boss Sharon White.
The list also included senior diplomats and figures from the military, although the addresses of six people honoured for their services to defence were not listed.
A spokesman for the ICO said: “In response to reports of a data breach involving the Cabinet Office and the NY Honours list, the ICO will be making enquiries.”
The introduction of General Data Protection Regulation rules in May 2018 increased the penalties regulators such as the ICO are able to introduce.
It means breaches can result in the ICO issuing penalties equivalent of up to 4% of annual global turnover or £17 million – whichever is greater.
In July, British Airways was fined £183m by the ICO after hackers stole the personal data of half a million
of the airline’s customers – the largest penalty ever issued by the regulator.
In the same month hotel chain Marriott International was given a £99m fine over a data breach.
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