At least 120 public servants have reportedly been fired over the last couple of years for illegally accessing personal data held in a confidential Department for Work and Pensions‘ database while at work.
This is the claim made by an IT news site that says the staff were sacked for “abusing their access rights to the Department for Work and Pensions’ Customer Information System”.
Local authorities apparently sacked 46 staff between January 2010 and March 2012, after they were caught looking up the details of everyone from celebrities and neighbours to family members, colleagues and acquaintances.
For its part, DWP sacked 57 staff in the two years to March 2012, after they were likewise caught snooping for personal data.
The revelations came via a Freedom of Information request. The database is used by at least 200,000 people across almost the whole of central and local government.
