THE personal data of Colchester residents obtained during a leak has not been used maliciously, it is claimed.

Colchester Council has hit out at its financial services contractor Capita after “unsafe” storage of personal data led to a breach.

Capita, which is entrusted with providing the council’s end-of-year auditing services for council tax and benefits, suffered the spill on Friday.

The information, which dates between 2019 and 2021, was found on an unsecured Amazon Data Bucket.

Gazette: Data breach - Colchester Council contractor CapitaData breach - Colchester Council contractor Capita (Image: PA)

The data, which does not include bank details, has since been secured and the firm said there is “currently no evidence of any malicious use of Colchester’s data”.

It is not yet clear how many people have been affected by the leak.

Colchester Council’s chief operating officer Richard Block said: “We are extremely disappointed that such a serious data breach by one of our contractors has occurred.

“We require all parties involved in the handling of sensitive information to adhere to the highest standards of data protection and it is unacceptable that Capita has failed to meet these required standards.

“As a result, we are considering what further action may be appropriate regarding Capita.

"We expect a full explanation and remedy from the company and for them to apologise directly to those affected.”