The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) fined Advanced Computer Software Group Ltd £3,076,320 on 27 March 2025 after a ransomware attack on its health and care subsidiary. The ICO said personal information belonging to 79,404 people was taken, including home-entry details for 890 people receiving care at home. The final penalty was lower than the £6.09 million provisional amount announced in 2024.
Which provider did the ICO fine?
Advanced Computer Software Group Ltd provides IT and software services, including to the NHS and other healthcare providers. It processes personal information for those organisations. The ICO’s penalty was against Advanced, which acted as a data processor in the incident; it was not a fine against the NHS or an individual care organisation.
The ICO said hackers accessed some systems of Advanced’s health and care subsidiary through a customer account that did not have multi-factor authentication (MFA). The penalty notice says the stolen personal information came from the Staffplan and Caresys products.
What information was taken, and what services were disrupted?
The ICO’s final announcement says information belonging to 79,404 people was taken. It included details on how to gain entry to the homes of 890 people receiving care at home. The announcement does not establish that the information was published online, so theft should not be confused with confirmed public disclosure.
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The incident also affected service availability. The ICO reported that the attack disrupted critical services, including NHS 111, and prevented some healthcare staff from accessing patient records. Its penalty notice records availability effects across nine customer products and about 658 controller customers. Depending on the product, reported unavailability ranged from 18 to 284 days; all controller customers could access the relevant products by 15 May 2023. Three products were taken offline as a precaution.
These availability figures describe service disruption, not the scope of data theft. The ICO attributes the information taken to Staffplan and Caresys; it does not say that information was extracted from every product affected by downtime.
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Why did the fine fall from £6.09m to £3.08m?
The amount widely reported in 2024 was provisional, not the final penalty. After considering Advanced’s representations, the ICO announced a voluntary settlement on 27 March 2025. The final figures are:
| ICO announcement | Penalty | People affected figure | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 August 2024 | £6.09 million | 82,946 | Provisional decision |
| 27 March 2025 | £3,076,320 | 79,404 | Final agreed penalty |
The ICO said it took account of Advanced’s representations, including its engagement with the National Cyber Security Centre, the National Crime Agency and the NHS, as well as other steps to mitigate risk. The final announcement does not break down how much each representation or action changed the amount. The earlier figure and affected-person count should therefore be described as provisional, not as the final finding.
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What security shortcomings did the ICO identify?
The ICO’s final findings identified incomplete MFA coverage, insufficient vulnerability scanning and inadequate patch management. In this incident, access through a customer account without MFA illustrates why controls need to cover relevant accounts consistently; vulnerability scanning and patch management address separate risks by helping organisations identify and remediate weaknesses in their systems.
The ICO’s Information Commissioner, John Edwards, said: “Today’s decision is a stark reminder that organisations risk becoming the next target without robust security measures in place.” He also said: “People should never have to think twice about whether their medical records are in safe hands.”
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Why can a software processor be fined for a customer’s data?
Healthcare organisations may decide why and how personal information is used, making them controllers under data-protection law. A processor handles information on a controller’s behalf, but that role does not remove its own obligation to use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect the data. The ICO’s 2024 provisional announcement explicitly noted that processors have this responsibility too.
Quick Recap
Official ICO sources
- ICO, Software provider fined £3m following 2022 ransomware attack, 27 March 2025.
- ICO, Advanced Computer Software Group Limited penalty notice, 27 March 2025.
- ICO, Provisional decision to impose £6m fine on software provider following 2022 ransomware attack that disrupted NHS and social care services, 7 August 2024.
- ICO enforcement listing, Advanced Computer Software Group Limited, 26 March 2025.
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