Suffolk police accidentally published victims’ data on its website

Suffolk police force revealed the names, dates of birth, and addresses of hundreds of victims of sexual assault on its website.

Reports note that the published information included victims' names, addresses, dates of birth, and details of the committed offenses.

"Suffolk Police were made aware that some personal information, which should not have been uploaded, could be accessed via the constabulary website,” a spokesperson said.

According to the police, the matter was “quickly resolved” once the force became aware of the incident, and the information, which was available to the general public for a short period of time, could soon no longer be accessed.

Police and crime commissioner Tim Passmore addressed worries that such an instance can put victims in more danger, telling the BBC that he had discussed setting up the support system for those in distress with deputy chief constable Rob Jones.

An investigation was launched to understand how the mistake happened and to identify measures that need to be put in place to avoid similar incidents in the future.

Earlier this year, hackers announced that they’d obtained 23 terabytes of data on one billion Chinese nationals and several billion case records from the Shanghai police.