In Miss L Telford v Sellafield Limited a senior IT worker at the Sellafield nuclear site was sacked for a security breach when ‘classified’ information on USB sticks fell out of her bag in the car park.
An employment tribunal heard Miss L Telford was invited to a meeting with managers in April 2018 regarding ‘a security matter’.
She was told her black mesh bag had been found in the car park and in it were USB sticks which included data relating to the Thorp Primary Domain Controller (PDC).
Dismissing the unfair dismissal case, the panel said: ‘One does not have to be an enthusiast of the history of espionage to be aware of how the smallest of information breaches can form part of a much wider programme or strategy by a third party body to undermine sensitive industries such as Sellafield.’
Miss Telford told the Manchester hearing that she parked in a disabled bay a few weeks earlier when various items spilled from her bag – and she did not pick up some items, including the USB sticks.
The tribunal heard that the Sellafield PDC was an operating system which had been downloaded onto her personal USB in an unencrypted format.
This was used on her computer at home and at work.
The tribunal panel said: ‘This created a danger in terms of corruption of the Sellafield IT systems with the potential introduction of ‘Malware’ viruses and other damaging third party software.
‘It is not hyperbole or hubris for an employer dealing with these environments to treat any data breach as potentially forming part of a much greater danger to the business, the local environment or indeed the nation as a whole.
‘It is unfortunate Miss Telford failed to recognise the real dangers and concerns which arose from the way in which she managed the PDC data.
‘This was a case which involved an employer who operated in a field where national security and safety was of paramount importance and it was essential that data security was taken extremely seriously.’
The panel said ‘there was the added dimension of data being sensitive in terms of its potential impact on nuclear safety, the threat of terrorism and overall national security’ with Sellafield.
They said she was treated fairly, and dismissal was ‘not a surprising outcome given what had happened’.
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