STORMONT'S Department of Justice has said new IT security measures are in place after reports that addresses of individuals were illegally accessed on computers belonging to one of its agencies.
It has been reported that a former employee of the department's Legal Services Agency (LSA) was arrested in 2019 after several people were warned by police that their personal information had been provided to loyalist paramilitaries.
Sunday Life reported that a 43-year-old east Belfast man has pleaded guilty to two charges of misconduct in public office and conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.
In a statement, the Department of Justice said a "comprehensive internal investigation" was conducted following the data breach.
"All LSA staff are regularly reminded of their responsibilities under Data Protection regulations," a spokesperson said.
"A System security briefing document is updated regularly to reinforce staff understanding of their responsibilities.
“System access is kept under continual review by LSA, to ensure that staff access is limited and they only have access to systems and information required to undertake their duties within the Agency."
Speaking of the reported breach, the spokesperson added: “Once LSA was notified that these incidents had taken place, a comprehensive internal investigation was carried out.
"Since these offences were committed, a new IT system has been put in place, which provides greater security and access controls, along with improved logging of user activity.”
