French police hit by security breach as data put online Published duration 27 June 2016

image copyright AFP image caption The details are from serving and retired officers and their families

The personal details of 112,000 French police officers have been uploaded to Google Drive in a security breach just a fortnight after two officers were murdered at their home by a jihadist.

A mutual organisation which provides extra health and other insurance benefits for police says the details were uploaded by a disgruntled worker.

It has said the files are protected by a password and there is no reason to believe details have been accessed.

The files include postal addresses.

The security breach comes two weeks after a police commander and his partner were stabbed to death at their home near Paris.

image copyright EPA image caption A memorial service was held for Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Jessica Schneider last week

RTL reports (in French) that the details of the officers, serving and retired, and their families, were uploaded to the Google Drive storage service on 2 June, where they were protected by a password.

It is unclear whether the person who uploaded the data took any further security measures to protect it.

Security experts say Google Drive does offer two-factor authentication but if it was not used, anybody who knew the password may have been able to access the data.

The mutual organisation concerned, Mutuelle Generale de la Police (MGP), told France TV Info that it had been the victim "of a malicious act on the part of an employee".

A spokesman for the French police union, Nicolas Conte, told RTL that the incident was "extremely worrying".