The data watchdog has warned employers about security breaches caused by staff working from home, after it fined a council £100,000 for posting sensitive information about vulnerable children.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) hit Aberdeen City Council with the penalty over what it called a "serious data breach" by social services.
The breach of data occurred after a council employee accessed documents, including meeting minutes and detailed reports, from her home computer.
A file transfer programme installed on the machine automatically uploaded the documents to a publicly-accessible website.
The sensitive information revealed details about several vulnerable children and their families, including details of alleged criminal offences.
The files were uploaded between November 8 and 14, 2011 and remained available online until February 2012.
They were only taken down when another member of staff spotted the documents after carrying out an online search linked to their own name and job title.
The breach was later reported to the ICO.
The ICO's investigation found that the council had no relevant home working policy in place for staff and did not have sufficient measures in place to restrict the downloading of sensitive information from the council's network.
ICO assistant commissioner for Scotland Ken Macdonald said: "As more people take the opportunity to work from home, organisations must have adequate measures in place to make sure the personal information being accessed by home workers continues to be kept secure.
"In this case Aberdeen City Council failed to monitor how personal information was being used and had no guidance to help home workers look after the information.
"On a wider level, the council also had no checks in place to see whether the council's existing data protection guidance was being followed."
He added: "The result was a serious data breach that left the sensitive information of a vulnerable young child freely available online for three months.
"We would urge all social work departments to sit up and take notice of this case by taking the time to check their home working setup is up to scratch."
The council is now in the process of agreeing an undertaking with the ICO, which commits the organisation to improving its compliance with the Data Protection Act.
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