Incidents include the loss or theft of technology and misplaced identity cards and keys.
Police Scotland has been urged to strengthen its data handling after almost 1,400 breaches were recorded over the past three years.
Figures released under freedom of information laws show the number of breaches is rising, with 476 incidents recorded in 2024/25, compared with 461 in both 2023/24 and 2022/23, reports Scottish Legal News
Incidents included the loss or theft of technology used by officers, unauthorised access to systems or data, and misplaced identity cards and keys.
In its response to Data Breach Claims UK, which made the request, it noted such incidents would fall under employer’s liability or public liability claims, of which it receives hundreds each year.
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: “We have a range of technical, physical, procedural and behavioural controls in place to reduce the risk of data breaches occurring and we provide police officers and staff with ongoing training and guidance to support them to avoid data breaches, or where they occur, how to deal with them.
“A specialist team, led by the data protection officer, investigates all breaches and where they meet the criteria, report to the Information Commissioner’s Office and notify impacted parties and support ongoing engagement with them.
“Data breach management is overseen by the data protection officer and reported routinely to the force executive for further scrutiny of any trends or to support opportunities to adopt learning or reduce the risk of further breaches.”
Written by
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with 25 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 17 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Forum, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and the National Cyber Security Show, and served as editor of SC Media UK, Infosecurity Magazine and IT Security Guru. He was also an analyst with 451 Research and a product marketing lead at Tenable.
