Seems a disc containing names, address, dates of birth, and in a some cases, banking details has got lost after it was sent between Govt agencies via an unregistered courier service.

Should that data fall into the wrong hands, it would be exactly what fraudsters and identity thieves need to go on a spree;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7104945.stm

This is a huge embarrassment for a Govt that are proposing a National Identity card system, and it shows that they are not capable of securing sensitive data, and the whole of Govt IT systems should be audited for security.

The wonders of technology...

I work in the IT industry so I know first hand how easy it is to make a FUBAR, and also how little privacy people really have. People are worried about governments knowing so much about them? How about greedy corporations and bored employees in those corporations having access to really sensitive and private information?

I have access to over 8 million customers' credit card info. All it would take is for me to do Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. There's really nothing stopping me from committing credit card fraud (though I never would...)

My friend who works at a bank spies on peoples' purchases, going through their transaction records and checking how much money they have in secret accounts. She knows that her little brother bought condoms at 12:30am on Friday, and she knows customer so and so has a secret account his wife doesn't know about, from which he makes expensive purchases to his lover.

Another friend used to work for T-Mobile and had access to private naked pictures of celebs they took with their cellphones. He was thinking of copying those and selling them to some tabloid.

Another friend took customer info of 3000 customers from the company he was working at and sold it (illegally) to some telemarketers for a few grand.

If people know how "secure" their data is the whole IT industry would collapse.

If people know how "secure" their data is the whole IT industry would collapse.

Yes indeed, it seems to work on the basis of least viable security. I've handled sensitive data, and it's easy to encrypt and secure the transaction. I guess it's even easier to not do this and just hope it all works out. I'm cautious though, and expensive. I wouldn't say I couldn't be tempted to sell confidential data, but it would have to be for several million, and the perfect crime, or I'm not interested!

Yes indeed, it seems to work on the basis of least viable security. I've handled sensitive data, and it's easy to encrypt and secure the transaction. I guess it's even easier to not do this and just hope it all works out. I'm cautious though, and expensive. I wouldn't say I couldn't be tempted to sell confidential data, but it would have to be for several million, and the perfect crime, or I'm not interested!

you can encrypt data to shield it from outsiders and some insiders. but it is inevitable that insiders will see unencrypted data. for example, people working with production DBs, or CSRs whose jobs it is to access UNencrypted data when clients call in...

re: you being cautious, that's beause you belong to the reasonable segment of the population. risk takers, as my buddy, exist everywhere. and they sell confidential customer info all the time.

people just aren't aware. they're upset because some disk got lost. they think it's a big deal. it's international freakin news. people have no idea how prevalent this shit is.

people just aren't aware. they're upset because some disk got lost. they think it's a big deal. it's international freakin news. people have no idea how prevalent this shit is.

Yes, but the more stories told, the more aware the uninformed public is about how often, and how easily, these types of things occur.

- N

there's a LOOOONG way for data security to go before it gets anywhere NEAR where the public thinks it is at right now.