Following a review and analysis conducted into the mass data loss first discovered by the City in April 2021, the City of Dallas IT Department Thursday provided City Manager T.C. Broadnax a report giving further details around the events leading to the data loss, the efforts to recover data, and making recommendations for changes to reduce the risk of potential future data loss.
City of Dallas ITS 2021 Full Report on Data Loss (English)
City of Dallas ITS 2021 Full Report on Data Loss (Spanish)
“The City understands the seriousness and potential impacts of this data loss and we are committed to improving how we manage our data to ensure its security and integrity,” said City Manager T.C. Broadnax. “In this report, our IT Department provides a path forward with a series of direct and actionable recommendations to improve our management of data and guard against any future data loss.”
The report confirms that the City lost 20.9 terabytes (TB) of data, totaling 8.26 million individual files in two events during the month of March 2021. The report cites actions taken by a City IT employee as the cause of the archive deletions and examines other factors and conditions contributing to the events. The data loss impacted archive files of the Dallas Police Department (DPD) and consisted of archived images, videos, audio files, case notes and other administrative documents gathered by the Department. Additionally, it delineates thorough reviews conducted of other backup and archive processes and confirms that other City systems were unaffected by these events.
Due to ongoing reviews and investigations into the actions of involved personnel, the report does not address employee disciplinary actions, nor does it describe the details of any investigatory actions completed or underway related to the data loss.
The report does not provide any detailed information about any specific prosecution or a pending criminal case. The Dallas Police Department (DPD) and ITS continue to work with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office to review all upcoming cases to ensure evidentiary records are complete and prosecutions can move forward.
Update February 23, 2022
On February 23, 2022, Erin Nealy Cox of the law firm Kirkland & Ellis delivered to the City Attorney’s Office the firm’s report on the March 2021 data loss incident involving Dallas Police Department (DPD) data. The report explains the facts and causes of the data loss and discusses communications relating to the lost data, possible impacts, and recommendations.
2022 Kirkland & Ellis External Audit Report on Data Loss (English)
2022 Kirkland & Ellis External Audit Report on Data Loss (Spanish)