UK government investment arm cops to 40-hour leak of officials' contact details

SECURITY

Employee failed to follow security policy, leaving internal management file open to the public

The UK government's corporate finance adviser has admitted that an employee left an internal file containing the names and work email addresses of dozens of officials publicly accessible for around 40 hours.

The breach, first reported by The Guardian, was disclosed in UK Government Investments' (UKGI) annual report, which says it occurred during the 2025-26 financial year after a member of staff "did not follow established information security policies." The exposed document contained "high-level management information" alongside the names and work email addresses of 51 government officials.

UKGI, the Treasury-owned outfit that advises ministers on everything from corporate rescues to billion-dollar share sales, said it voluntarily reported the incident to the UK's Information Commissioner's Office even though it did not meet the threshold for mandatory notification. It also informed its Audit and Risk Committee and commissioned an external review of the breach.

The report offers little else in the way of detail. UKGI doesn't say when the exposure occurred, where the file was hosted, whether anyone accessed or downloaded it, or which departments employed the affected officials. It also doesn't identify the external firm that reviewed the incident or disclose the recommendations it made.

The review concluded that UKGI's response was appropriate and recommended further improvements to its security controls and incident preparedness. According to the report, "the overwhelming majority" of those recommendations have either already been implemented or are due to be introduced in the coming months.

The mishap comes in a year when UKGI had its fingerprints on some of Whitehall's biggest commercial deals, from finally offloading the government's remaining NatWest shares to advising on small modular reactor financing and supporting the Eutelsat capital raise and Royal Mail takeover.

The Register has asked UKGI for further details, including what information the file contained beyond names and email addresses, where it was publicly accessible, whether there is any evidence it was accessed while exposed, and what additional safeguards have since been introduced.

Whether this was merely embarrassing or exposed officials to a meaningful risk depends on details UKGI has yet to disclose.

An ICO spokesperson said: “We can confirm UK Government Investments Ltd reported an incident and we are assessing the information provided.” ®