The inspectorate, which oversees policing in England and Wales and fire services in England, said the Police Digital Service and the National Police Chiefs’ Council shared “information on multiple cyberattacks” affecting “third-party ICT supply chains which held police information.” The report does not say how many attacks took place, which suppliers or forces were affected, or whether data was stolen in these supply-chain incidents.
The inspectorate said it purposefully removed operational details that it considered unsuitable for the public domain. Neither the Home Office, Britain’s interior ministry, nor the National Police Chiefs’ Council responded to questions about whether police data was compromised in the supplier attacks. The watchdog said the Police Digital Service recorded 252 cybersecurity incidents affecting policing in the first three months of this year, as well as 796 “near misses,” which the report defined as incidents with no harmful breach of data or IT systems.
