Tories self-refer to ICO over data breach

Revealed hundreds of personal email addresses by forgetting to BCC

The Conservative Party has breached 300+ people's personal data in email slip-up.

The UK's Conservative Party has referred itself to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), after inadvertently revealing hundreds of supporters' personal email addresses.

The Party's registration team accidentally copied 300 email addresses into a field that could be seen by all recipients, rather than using BCC, when emailing people about their applications for an upcoming conference.

The ICO, which looks after data protection in the UK, said, "The Conservative party has made us aware of this incident and we are assessing the information provided. Failure to use BCC correctly in emails is one of the top data breaches reported to us every year.

"Organisations should consider using alternatives to BCC such as bulk email services, mail merge, or secure data transfer services, so personal information is not shared with people by mistake."

A Labour source told The Guardian, "On the day Rishi Sunak proclaims the Tories as the great protectors of our national security, it turns out they can't even protect a database of contacts. You couldn't make it up."

That refers to the Prime Minister's speech on Monday, warning that the next few years will be the "most dangerous" for the UK.

"I feel a profound sense of urgency because more will change in the next five years than in the last 30.

"I'm convinced that the next few years will be some of the most dangerous yet most transformational our country has ever known."

Sunak was referring to both foreign actors, including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea - which he described as an axis of authoritarian states - global immigration and artificial intelligence.

He swore to use the opportunities AI represents, adding, "Over the next few years, from our democracy to our economy to our society - to the hardest questions of war and peace - almost every aspect of our lives is going to change.

"How we act in the face of these changes - not only to keep people safe and secure but to realise the opportunities too - will determine whether or not Britain will succeed in the years to come.

"And this is the choice facing the country."

For its part, the Conservative Party apologised for the breach and confirmed it had self-reported to the ICO.