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Cyber Security Architectural Principles

This document provides all National Policing and its partners with a clear set of security architectural principles, which are the foundation to build, design and implement secure solutions.

Published 01/05/2023
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Principles
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Data Protection

On the 25th May 2018 the Data Protection Act 2018 was implemented by the UK as the General Data Protection Regulation also known as GDPR. It controls how personal information is captured and used by organisations and the government.

Everyone responsible for using personal data has to follow strict rules called ‘data protection principles’ and must ensure that the information they obtain is for a lawful purpose, used fairly and must be transparent about its intended purpose of usage and used explicitly for that purpose only.

Data should also not be kept for more than is necessary, and whilst it is kept, should be kept up to date and handled and secured in a way that does not compromise its protection from unauthorised processing, loss of theft of data.  

It is important to note that there is stronger legal protection for more sensitive information such as race, health, sex life, orientation, ethnic background. There are separate safeguards for personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences.

Under the Data Protection Act 2018, an individual has the right to find out what information the government and other organisations holds about them and this ideally should be provided to the individual within 1 month.  

To make a complaint about the misuse of personal information or lack of security it should be made to the organisation, following their response the complaint can also be made to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

ICO
casework@ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Published 01/01/2018
Authoring body: Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
Principles
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Equality Act 2010: Guidance (2015)

The Equality Act 2010 replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act. It protected people from discrimination, age discrimination and public sector Equality Duty, sets out the different ways in which the maltreatment of an individual can be unlawful.

The Equality Act 2010 provides a basic framework of protection against direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation in services and public functions, work, education, associations and transport, protection against indirect discrimination to disability, allowing claims for direct gender pay discrimination where there is no actual comparator and much more.

Before the Act came into force there were several pieces of legislation to cover discrimination, including:

  • Sex Discrimination Act 1975

  • Race Relations Act 1976

  • Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Complaints made about unlawful treatment, that happened after the 1st October 2010, the Equality Act will apply. However if was before this date, then the legislation that was in force at the time will apply.

The Equality Act 2010 includes provisions that ban age discrimination against adults in the provision of services and public functions. It also includes the public sector Equality Duty public bodies have to consider all individuals when carrying out their day-to-day work – in shaping policy, in delivering services and in relation to their own employees.

Published 01/01/2015
Authoring body: Government Equalities Office
Policy
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Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA)

The regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 relates to the interception, acquisition and disclosure of data relating to communications, the carrying out of surveillance, the use of covert human intelligence sources and the acquisition of the means by which electronic data protected by encryption or passwords may be decrypted or accessed.

There are three main ways of surveillance and covert human intelligence

  1. direct surveillance

  2. intrusive surveillance

  3. use of covert human intelligence sources

Non-intrusive covert surveillance can be undertaken for a specific investigation, operation or purpose. Its result is to obtain private information about a person (whether or not one specifically identified for the purposes of the investigation or operation)

Intrusive surveillance is carried out either in a residential premises or private vehicle; and involves the presence of an individual on the premises or in the vehicle or is carried out by means of a surveillance device.

Human intelligence source is inducing, asking or assisting a person to obtain information by means of the conduct of such a source. This is achieved by establishing a personal or other relationship with a person for the covert purpose and covertly discloses information obtained by the use of such a relationship, or as a consequence of the existence of such a relationship.

Published 01/01/2000
Authoring body: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO)
Principles
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Criminal Procedure & Investigations Act 1996 Code of Practice

The Criminal Procedure and Investigations Code of Practice applies in respect of criminal investigations conducted by police. A criminal investigation can be defined an investigation conducted by police officers with a view to it being ascertained whether a person should be charged with an offence, or whether a person charged with an offence is guilty of it. 

This document sets out the manner in which police officers are to record, retain and reveal to the prosecutor material obtained in a criminal investigation.

The roles and responsibilities within a criminal investigation can vary. The functions of the investigator, the officer in charge of an investigation and the disclosure officer are separate. The amount of persons attached to this case to fulfil the above roles will depend on the complexity of the case and the administrative arrangements within each police force. Commonly, where there are more than one person undertaking the roles, close consultation between them is essential to the effective performance of the duties imposed by this code. 


Persons other than police officers who are charged with the duty of conducting an investigation as defined in the Act are to have regard to the relevant provisions of the code, and should take these into account in applying their own operating procedures. 


Published 01/01/2015
Authoring body: Ministry of Justice (MoJ)
Standards
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DNA and Fingerprint Provisions

Protection of Freedoms Act 2012: DNA and fingerprint provisions was introduced in October 2013 to cover the retention of DNA and fingerprints where it was ruled in the European Court in the case of S and Marper v UK that the blanket retention of DNA profiles taken from innocent people posed a disproportionate interference with the right to private life.

The protection of Freedoms Act strikes a balance between protecting the freedoms of those who are innocent of any offence whilst ensuring that the police continue to have the capability to protect the public and bring criminals to justice. 

A DNA sample is an individual’s biological material, containing all of their genetic information. The act requires all DNA samples to be destroyed within 6 months of being taken. This allows sufficient time for the sample to be analysed. The only exception to this is if the sample is required for use as evidence in court, in which case it may be retained for the duration of the proceedings.

Fingerprints are usually scanned electronically from the individual in custody and the images stored on IDENT1, the national fingerprint database.

For Scotland, the legal acquisition, retention, weeding and use of DNA and Fingerprint data is outlined in Sections 18 to 19C of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/46/part/II/crossheading/prints-and-samples

Published 01/01/2019
Authoring body: Home Office
Policy
Resource
Website and application accessibility regulations and guidance

Public sector organisations need to think about accessibility at every stage and ensure they meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) design principles. The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 are now active and applicable to all public sector organisations, including policing, and this guidance has been created to support organisations meeting the requirements for all new and existing websites or applications.

The guidance is split into several sections:

1. Decide how to check the accessibility problems on your website or mobile app
2. Make a plan to fix any accessibility problems
3. Publish your accessibility statement
4. Make sure new features are accessible

The main theme throughout is that accessibility should be considered on how people with impairments to their sight, hearing, movement, memory or thinking may use the website/app. Regular tests should be carried out from the point code writing even through the public beta stage and at every time a new feature is added.

The best way to meet accessibility requirements is to:

  • think about accessibility requirements from the commencement

  • run accessibility tests regularly throughout development

  • get a formal accessibility audit before you go into public beta

  • make sure the service works with the most common assistive technologies - screen readers or speech recognition software

  • test the service with disabled users and with older users

Legislation link: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/852/contents/made

Published 01/01/2019
Authoring body: Government Digital Services (GDS)
Guidance
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NCSP Management of High Risk Applications standard v1.1

This standard outlines the minimum requirements and controls that must be met to ensure the secure management of applications identified as high risk.

Published 01/10/2024
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Standards
Resource
Safe deployment of TikTok

This guidance provides an overview of approaches to deploy TikTok safely

Published 01/06/2023
Authoring body: The Police Digital Service
Guidance
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NCSP Robotic process automation guideline

This guideline describes best practice risk management controls for using Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for the purpose of automating manual administrative overheads for National Policing Forces and applications

Published 01/10/2024
Authoring body: Police Digital Service
Guidance
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Robotic Process Automation Cyber Security Guidance

This guidance describes best practice cyber risk management controls for using Robotic Process Automation (RPA) 
for the purpose of automating manual administrative overheads for National Policing Forces and 
applications. This document only provides guidelines to automating manual processes and is not intended for machine 
learning (ML) or artificial intelligence (AI) derived solutions. Please refer to separate guidelines and standards 
for Digital Process Automation (DPA), AI and ML related activities.

Published 01/07/2023
Authoring body: The Police Digital Service
Guidance
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NCSP MS Power platform guideline v1.0

This guidance is to assist members of the UK policing community of trust in the design, setup and use of Microsoft’s Power Platform service, incorporating Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Pages.

Published 01/10/2024
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Guidance
Resource
NCSP Vetting requirements for policing guideline v1.3

This guidance describes the requirements for access to policing assets including premises, information, and information systems. This document should be read in conjunction with the Statutory Vetting Code of Practice and Authorised Professional Practice on Vetting

Published 02/09/2024
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Guidance
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Vetting Requirements for policing

This guidance describes the vetting requirements for access to Policing assets including premises, information, and information systems. This document should be read in conjunction with the Statutory Vetting Code of Practice and Authorised Professional Practice on Vetting.

Published 01/10/2023
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Guidance
Resource
NCSP Security Management standard v1.1

This standard describes the requirements to implement and maintain an effective cyber security management system as required by the National Policing Community Security Policy Framework.
Implementation of this standard will help members to ensure that adequate management controls and oversight is in place to mature their cyber resilience

Published 02/09/2024
Authoring body: Police Digital Service
Standards
Resource
Security Management Standard v1.0

This standard describes the requirements to implement and maintain an effective cyber security management system as required by the National Policing Community Security Policy Framework.
Implementation of this standard will help members to ensure that adequate management controls and oversight is in place to mature their cyber resilience.

Published 01/10/2023
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Principles
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NCSP Security Governance standard v1.1

This Standard defines the requirements to implement Security Governance as mandated in the National Community Security Policy

Published 02/09/2024
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Standards
Resource
Security Governance Standard V1.0

This Standard defines the requirements to implement Security Governance as mandated in the National Community Security Policy.

Published 01/10/2023
Authoring body: Police Digital Service
Standards
Resource
NCSP Safe Deployment of High Risk Applications Guideline v1.1

This guideline outlines approaches to follow for any use of high risk applications to reduce risk.

Published 01/08/2024
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Guidance
Resource
Tik Tok Standard

This standard provides direction on the use of TikTok across policing, in accordance with the latest guidance provided by the Cabinet Office.

Published 01/08/2023
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Standards
Resource
NCSP Information Security Assurance standard v1.1

This standard defines the requirements to implement Information Security Assurance as mandated in the National Community Security Policy.
This document describes the requirements to help implement a consistent and structured information security assurance programme, supported by comprehensive security testing (using a range of attack types), penetration tests, and regular security and risk compliance monitoring.

Published 02/09/2024
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Standards
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Information Assurance Standard V1.0

This Standard defines the requirements to implement Information Assurance as mandated in the National Community Security Policy.
This document describes the requirements to help implement a consistent and structured information security assurance programme, supported by comprehensive security testing (using a range of attack types), penetration tests, and regular security and risk compliance monitoring.

Published 01/10/2023
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Standards
Resource
NCSP Cyber Business Continuity standard v1.2

This standard specifies the minimum requirements regarding cyber business continuity, (Crisis Management & Disaster Recovery). It aims to provide policing with clear direction to implement a cyber business continuity strategy, enabling operations and services to endure adverse events.

Published 02/09/2024
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Standards
Resource
Business Continuity v1.0

This Standard specifies the minimum requirements regarding business continuity. It aims to provide PDS (Police Digital Service) and policing with clear direction to implement a business continuity strategy, enabling operations and services to endure adverse events.

Published 01/11/2023
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Standards
Resource
NCSP Artificial Intelligence & LLM (Large Language Models) standard v1.1

This standard brings together a set of control requirements for the use of Artificial Intelligence in policing. To help the reader in this new area, Artificial Intelligence has been defined, along with a number of its sub-categories. This standard has an additional section targeted at developers and data scientists, to provide more detailed guidance, when developing AI-based solutions.

Published 02/09/2024
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Standards
Resource
Artificial Intelligence

This standard brings together a set of control requirements for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in policing. To help the reader in this new area, Artificial Intelligence has been defined, along with a number of its sub-categories. This standard has an additional section targeted at developers and data scientists, to provide more detailed guidance, when developing AI-based solutions.
This standard adheres to the National Policing Community Security Policy Framework and is a suitable reference for community members, notably those who build and implement IT systems on behalf of national policing.

Published 01/09/2023
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Standards
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National Community Security Policy v1.4

This Policy provides confirmation of management intent, in support of the Community Security Principles. This Policy will define how the principles are to be achieved, at a high level. Detail to support this Policy will be in the form of standards, control objectives and other supporting documentation.

Published 02/09/2024
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Policy
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National Policing Community Security Policy v1.3

This Policy provides confirmation of management intent, in support of the Community Security Principles. This Policy will define how the principles are to be achieved, at a high level. Detail to support this Policy will be in the form of standards, control objectives and other supporting documentation.

Published 01/10/2023
Authoring body: Police Digital Service
Policy
Resource
National Community Security Principles v1.4

This Policy provides confirmation of management intent, in support of the Community Security Principles. This Policy will define how the principles are to be achieved, at a high level. Detail to support this Policy will be in the form of standards, control objectives and other supporting documentation

Published 01/09/2024
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Principles
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National Policing Community Security Principles V1.3

This document provides all National Policing and its partners with a clear set of information security principles, which are the foundation to all information security activity.

Published 01/10/2023
Authoring body: Police Digital Service (PDS)
Principles