A Bad Year For British Data
December 27, 2007 | by Christopher Nickson
UK data losses kept coming as coming.
2007 hasn’t been a good year for British data. In the last two months there has been announcement after announcement of lost data, some of which could be gold if it ends up in the hands of criminals.
The latest breach, reported the week before Christmas, was the nine separate health trusts run by the National Health Service (NHS) has managed to lose the data of patients (although one later found the records).
That came after a government announcement the week before that a US contractor had managed to lose the data of three million learner drivers. There was no reason given for using a US contractor.
Prior to that was the biggie, when Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) lost the data of 25 million UK residents – a figure that represents nearly half the population. That data has yet to be found, although so far there has been no evidence it was stolen.
The government has come under fire for the breaches, and the head of HMRC resigned after the incident. No other heads have rolled – yet. But the National Audit Office has criticized the data systems, saying 35% of them need strengthening.
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