Thursday, August 21, 2008
Oops! Another 10,000 plus records lost.
The BBC are reporting that Home Office contractor PA Consulting have lost a computer memory stick containing personal details about tens of thousands of criminals. The lost data apparently includes details about 10,000 prolific offenders as well as information on all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales.
This loss is the latest in a whole string of incidents involving misplaced data, including:
Update: Blairwatch reminds us that PA Consulting, who are responsible for this latest data loss, were appointed by David Blunkett to prepare the ID card scheme in the first place.
This loss is the latest in a whole string of incidents involving misplaced data, including:
- 17,000 lost National Insurance Numbers
- the theft of a laptop with encrypted details of 17,000 Sats markers
- the still mysterious disappearance of the details of 25 million child benefit claimants.
Update: Blairwatch reminds us that PA Consulting, who are responsible for this latest data loss, were appointed by David Blunkett to prepare the ID card scheme in the first place.
Labels: ID
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I really don't understand how this kind of thing can happen. Don't the government departments have remote access servers? Why, in this day and age does information need to be stored on CD's, DVD's or USB memory sticks?
There should never be any need for information to ever leave the servers.
There should never be any need for information to ever leave the servers.
# posted by 
: 11:03 PM
: 11:03 PM
I think this is the tip of the iceberg as well.. call me anachronistic if you please but there
is something in bringing the old filing cabinets back into fashion, files on recycled paper of course.
This ludditic maxim will never come about so we can probably expect more of this in the future.
Probably this memory stick has been chucked out with the rubbish and our forebears will dig it up as archaeology in 3000 years time so it willnay matter about our NI numbers then because we will be just bones.
is something in bringing the old filing cabinets back into fashion, files on recycled paper of course.
This ludditic maxim will never come about so we can probably expect more of this in the future.
Probably this memory stick has been chucked out with the rubbish and our forebears will dig it up as archaeology in 3000 years time so it willnay matter about our NI numbers then because we will be just bones.
I agree with anon: there is no reason for information to be stored on portable formats. The thing is, people are so paranoid about horror stories in the media about "hackers" that they don't trust networks, so we end up with the... idiotic.. situation that data is stored on usb sticks and carried around, burned on cdr and posted via Royal Mail, stored on laptops which are just left around. Come on people: trust the networks. You need to get out of this 1980s "floppy disk" mentality. And network admins: you need to do more to ensure your users actually use and trust the network.
Personally, if I was in charge, I would fire anyone who removed data via an unsecured portable method. Instantly. No Excuses.
Personally, if I was in charge, I would fire anyone who removed data via an unsecured portable method. Instantly. No Excuses.
Regarding Rhetoric Innes comments, you could actually imagine that this will be an important find; some geneologist centuries from now will find this information and transcribe it onto Ancestry-dot-Com.
Great, Great, Great grandfather was a PPO - but what's a PPO?
Great, Great, Great grandfather was a PPO - but what's a PPO?
# posted by : 3:21 PM
: 3:21 PM
See on the news this evening that the personal records of quite a number of RBS customers has ended up on a £30 server on eBay.
I'm sure that the media highlighting these breaches hasn't gone un-noticed by the criminal fraternity.
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I'm sure that the media highlighting these breaches hasn't gone un-noticed by the criminal fraternity.
# posted by : 7:13 PM
: 7:13 PM<< Home
