Transport / Transport agency apologises for ferry consultation ‘data breach’
TRANSPORT Scotland has apologised for an email data breach which involved a number of Shetland residents.
On Thursday the government agency emailed people who responded to its recent Northern Isles ferry service (NIFS) public consultation to inform them that the process had concluded.
But it appears Transport Scotland copied in people’s email addresses without doing so as a ‘bcc’, meaning that anyone who received it could see the personal email addresses of everyone else.
One person from Shetland who received this email said there were more than 280 email addresses involved. However, the consultation overall received more than 1,000 responses.
The email was recalled, although the notification for this included all of the email addresses again.
A spokesperson for Transport Scotland confirmed it has “reported the breach in line with data protection requirements”.
They said: “We are aware of an error in the distribution of an email to NIFS consultation participants which resulted in recipients’ email addresses being visible to others.”
The spokesperson said the government agency “acted immediately once the issue was identified”.
“We apologise for this error and for any concern it may have caused and have reinforced internal guidance on the importance of ensuring email addresses are not shared when sending communications to groups in response to consultation participation,” they added.
Transport Scotland was consulting the public on the next Northern Isles ferry contract. The results from the consultation can be read here.
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