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Whistle-blowing complaint upheld over weak passwords at Dudley Council

A whistle-bowing complaint was upheld by Dudley Council after staff were found to have breached password security rules.

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Dudley Council House

It was found some staff had failed to use secure passwords on computers, resulting in advice being given to them.

However Dudley Council said no data or confidential information was accessed during this case.

It was one of six whistle-blowing complaints made at Dudley Council since February.

Four of them have been found 'not proven' while one is still being investigated.

Alan Lunt, deputy chief executive at Dudley Council, said: “Thankfully, breaches of council policy are extremely rare but we always encourage staff to report issues, in confidence, in the appropriate way.

"We have had one case where a complaint was upheld and involved a small number of staff who breached password security rules.

"The members of staff were reminded of the importance of secure passwords, in line with council procedures, but thankfully it did not result in any data or security issues.”