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How safe is our personal data?
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After losing the personal data of 25 million people, the government is accused of being “the biggest identity thief of all”.
Pressure group NO2ID has seized on the lapse to bolster its campaign against identity cards and the huge database that would go with them.
“This data disaster shows up the madness behind the government’s ID schemes,” says its National Co-ordinator Phil Booth.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne says public confidence in the government’s ability to protect personal information has been destroyed.
The lapse exposes millions of families to the risk of identity theft and bank fraud.
Government Information Commissioner Richard Thomas calls it a “serious wake-up call” and wants new criminal penalties for those who recklessly ignore procedures.
“We have been warning about these dangers for years,” he says.
Chancellor Alistair Darling has apologised for the breach — potentially the largest data security lapse in British history – and says such an enormous loss must never be allowed to happen again.
“The police tell me there is no evidence there has been any criminal or unusual activity,” he says.
- Has this security breach changed your views on identity cards?
- Do you still trust public bodies with your personal details?
- Will you take any steps to protect yourself against becoming a victim of fraud?
Send us your comments.
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This is appalling. If a Government agency cannot be trusted with tax file data what does this suggest for the security of any ID card scheme.
It is not the first lapse but is the klargest. We have all heard about medical records found on rubbish tips or in the street.
Will the Government now wake up and realise just how much this will have set the population against an ID card scheme and re-consider their proposals until such time as security can be assured.
We also have to question whether the same problems might arise in regard to other large IT based proposals such as Road Pricing and/or Congestion Charging.
Gordon Brown and his cronies need to pay the ultimate price- if I committed a crime of this magnitude at work I would rightly be dismissed as would anyone associated with the failure. Head would roll as the saying goes. It is criminal that an apology from Darling is all the victims of this failure are deemed worthy of(My wife receives Child Benefit and I feel very nervous I have to say). How can this have happened? I want to see Gordon Brown on the dole for this and it can’t happen quick enough. We didn’t vote him in, but we sure have the right to kick him out.
Millions of people – 25 million – half the population – all of them with children.
To me that suggests – All families. as the remaining half of the population is generally Adult males.
I feel that i am no longer safe as a being in the U.K and am at serious risk every time i hand over any personal information.
Also – This wont change the opinion of ID cards for a few, It will change the opinions of all.
Could you imagine your DNA, Fingerprints, Retena and passwords all being taken by somebody by being simply put onto a CD
We need to wake up and create a stable environment. Encrypt our data etc…
Anybody anywhere in or outside the UK that is a UK passport holder is now at risk.
– This crisis is bigger than the government wish to admit.
- ACM
I have over 25 years experience in the computer industry. Whatever the public are told about security it remains a fact that any system can be breached given time and expertise. An example of this was the ability of Bletchley Park to crack the Enigma code used in WW2. It took good brains, time and resources. The Enigma developers insisted it was not possible to break their code!
Moral, if you want total security, it does not exist! For the best partical security, don’t store all your data ‘eggs’ in one system ‘basket’.
Labour is just totally inept; will they fine themselves for a huge breach of the Data Protection Act pricinple # 7?
An NHS IT system proved to have totally insufficient access permissions recently, the list just goes on.
I would like a minister to tell me how an ID card would have stopped the individuals blowing themselves up on a bus or tube…
Peter’s theaory states that you reach the level of you own incompetance.
All of this government are at least three levels above that!!
Surely data protection on computers is the responsiblity of the operating system, data storage safety is the reponsiblity of the Goverment in this case and if its security code/encription is breached then the Govenment must pay up. The same with banks if somebody uses the data stolen then banks have a duty to check the information and the owner.
All the cryptographers in the world could not have cracked Enigma without an Enigma machine, so it was an incalculable catastrophe for the Germans that the Royal Navy captured one (not the US Navy as Hollywood would have us all believe). Just because a clever hacker might be able to penetrate HMRC’s computer system, does not mean that you make their job easier by handing out the data on computer disks!
Whatever our response to this latest bungle by the bungler’s apprentices we call our government, it cannot match the enormity of what they have done. The English language does not contain the words to describe such ineptitude and incompetence. Heads should roll from the very top to the very bottom of HMRC, and the government should go.
This is really awful. What happens if someone does become victim of identity theft as a result. Will the Govt pick up the bill in such case?
I wonder if the government can be prosecuted for breach of data protection act? or will it be just overlooked with poilitical apologies and answers?
How incompetent can the government get?
What we read about this problem, it is a terrorist or criminal godsend, probably we will find copies for sale on Ebay or sent on Youtube. The security lapse is of such magnitude that the Prime Minister and the Cabinet should resign and call an election, becasue people have lost trust. Not only these are the same people who wants IDs and 54 questions when you travel, it beggars belief. Apologies are not good enough, this is not the first time data is misplaced
Didn’t I read the other day that illegal immigrants had managed to get jobs in Government departments ? Is it surprising, then, that this latest farce has happened ? I seems to me that there are many senior employees in Government departments who should be sacked – and soon.
PG should be commended for taking public responsibility for this farce (he is unlikely to suffer little financial hardship & will likely be back in another senior position very soon) I will not have any confidence that decisive action has been taken until I hear of senior individuals being sacked (i.e. FDA members earning £55,000 & more p.a) The fact that the individual directly responsible has ‘resigned’ offers little reassurance that the sheer incompetence of his managers will ever be exposed!