News
16 January 2008
Data disks in the headlines - take care of your data
On 9 January 2008 the police received a report that a laptop had been stolen from a car parked in Edgbaston, Birmingham. The laptop was said to contain data of 600,000 people who had expressed an interest in, or joined, the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the RAF.
This follows closely from an announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, last November admitting that computer disks containing the personal records of 25 million individuals had been lost in the post. The missing disks contained the records of all child benefit recipients in the United Kingdom, including the names of the recipients and their children, their addresses, dates of birth, Child Benefit and National Insurance Numbers and bank or building society account details.
As neither disk had a basic password protection system, nor encrypted, it would be a straightforward matter for a moderately skilled cyber criminal to retrieve the personal information and carry out identity theft and fraud on a massive scale.
The extent and prominence of these data losses is unprecedented in the UK. However, it is not uncommon for private companies’ IT systems to store personal information on hundreds or thousands of customers and the law on Data Protection and negligence applies equally to them as to HMRC.
The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) requires that “appropriate technical and organisational measures” are taken against “unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data”. This principle in both cases has almost certainly been breached and it would be wise for private companies to ensure that their Data Protection policies and procedures are up to date and do not fall foul of the DPA. Companies may also be at risk of being sued for damages where negligent handling of individuals’ personal data has led to financial loss.
If you are concerned that your data protection policies and procedures may not be up to date then please contact Simon Woodings on 01782 205000 or email simon.woodings@beswicks.com.
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