While the long-term impact of the latest PSNI data breach has yet to be fully assessed it has the potential to provide a treasure trove of information.
The haul of data includes the partial names of more than 10,000 PSNI staff members, their rank or grade, department and place of work.
While many of the serving officers whose details appear on the list will be known in the communities where they work, others will have been careful never to reveal their identity.
The work of some of those people whose names are listed is so sensitive that they have appeared in a column marked 'secret'.
A spreadsheet containing the data reveals that around 400 PSNI officers are involved in intelligence work across the north.
It has also emerged that about 40 PSNI officers are located at MI5s headquarters at Holywood in Co Down.
It has been suggested that some of those involved in undercover work may no longer be able to continue as a result of the breach.
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The PSNI say they are currently trying to establish how many people may have accessed the information after it was posted online.
How that information can now be used by various bodies, including paramilitary groups and organised crime gangs, will be at the heart of the PSNIs investigation.
A primary focus will be on whether the data breach will create the potential for PSNI members to be directly targeted.
While attention will naturally turn to whether dissident republican groups have access to the information, the released data will also be of interest to a wide variety of organisations.
The potential value of any information released may well be linked to knowledge already held by others.
The capacity of those in possession of the recently released information to cross reference it with what is already known could provide missing pieces in an intelligence picture, which has been put together over many years.
Regardless, the latest breach has already lifted the veil on corners of the PSNI organisation that are rarely exposed to public scrutiny.
The information now available provides a more complete picture of how the PSNI is structured and allocates resources.
The possible cost implications are almost impossible to calculate.
The data breach comes just months after the New IRA shot and seriously injured senior PSNI officer John Caldwell near Omagh.
The paramilitary threat level was raised to severe.
