“We don't need no stinking security!”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2907495.ece

Taxman loses sensitive personal data on 25m people

Tax chief quits and 7.2 million families warned to check their bank accounts for fraud after personal data lost in post

Nico Hines and Philip Webster, Political Editor of The Times November 20, 2007

The personal and bank details of 25 million people - almost every child in the country as well as their parents and carers - have been lost by HM Revenue & Customs, the Government admitted today.

Names, addresses, dates of birth, employment and bank details all went missing when two CDs containing the information were mislaid.

Alistair Darling told the House of Commons that the discs containing the highly sensitive information failed to arrive after they were sent in the ordinary internal mail between government departments.

... The Chancellor admitted that HMRC had made the same mistake on several occasions in the past six months.

... “Let us be clear about the scale of this catastrophic mistake,” he said. “His department has compromised the security and safety of every family in the land.”

... On October 18, CDs carrying the personal details of every Child Benefit claimant were sent to the National Audit Office by a junior member of HMRC. The package was not recorded or registered.

When it was discovered that those CDs had never reached their destination the information was posted again – this time by recorded delivery, but still against protocol.

... He sought to assure potential victims of identity theft that they would be recompensed in the event of any bank account losses. [That probably won't amount to much... Bob]

Related?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20071121064707643

One million UK employees admit to losing confidential data

Wednesday, November 21 2007 @ 06:47 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches

HMRC is not alone in failing to protect confidential information. According to a new survey from Navigant Consulting, conducted by YouGov, more than one million employees in Britain (four per cent of all working adults) have lost, or had stolen a laptop computer; personal digital assistant; thumb-drive; CD; or floppy disk containing confidential information about customers, suppliers, staff or financial information, and a further 12 per cent – almost three and a half million people – claim that this has happened to a work colleague.

... "Our survey shows that 17 per cent of the British work force now uses a company laptop at home – that’s nearly five million people – and indicates that working from home is an established working practice rather than a trend," says Andrew Durant. "Yet only 25 per cent of these said that their laptops are encrypted to protect the confidential information they contain".

"In addition, more than 11 million employees - 39 per cent of workers and/or their colleagues – save data onto a PDA, thumb-drive, CD, or other device, to work from home. It is unrealistic to expect employees to stop using technology to work more flexibly, and frankly reckless for companies not to put measures in place to protect their confidential information in view of this change in working habits. [Well said. Bob]

Source - PersonnelToday.com

I suppose this could be a theft just for the laptops and loose change, but it makes you wonder – was the crook ignorant of the nature of the office he was entering?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20071120163300922

11 laptop PCs stolen from Brussels embassy

Tuesday, November 20 2007 @ 04:37 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches

Eleven laptop computers were stolen from the Japanese Embassy in central Brussels earlier this month, leading to fears that personal information on about 12,700 Japanese living in Belgium may have been exposed, the embassy said Wednesday.

... Some of the stolen computers held electronic data on matters such as the expats' residence certification, overseas voting registration and passport information, according to the embassy. The residence certification contains details such as a person's name, birthdate, permanent address in Japan, occupation, family information and passport number.

Source - Daily Yomiuri

Innovation is where you find it...

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/20/2335208&from=rss

The Evolving Face of Credit Card Scams

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday November 20, @08:13PM from the caveat-clickor dept. Security The Almighty Buck

An anonymous reader writes "The 12 Angry Men have a followup to their piece on the cross-sell scam credit card companies have begun using. Their new article concerns another evolving scam being employed, where users are racking up huge fees and charges on cards that have never even been activated. The article goes deep into the standard way the scam plays out, as well as detailing some interesting history on how credit applications are processed, and where they are typically (and frighteningly) subject to tampering."

...and here is our response...

http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_7497332?nclick_check=1

Online crooks often escape prosecution

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DECLINES NEARLY THREE OF FOUR CASES

By Ryan Blitstein Mercury News Article Launched: 11/18/2007 01:37:59 AM PST

Even as online crime has mushroomed in the past few years into a multibillion-dollar problem, federal prosecution of Internet crooks nationwide has not kept pace, a Mercury News analysis shows.

In nearly three of four cases, federal prosecutors are choosing not to pursue the computer-fraud allegations that investigators bring them. And whether a case is prosecuted appears to vary widely, depending upon where the crime is committed or who the victims happen to be.

No surprise... Is it?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20071120150328281

Having an affair at work? Your email may be subject to open records laws

Tuesday, November 20 2007 @ 03:03 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Workplace Privacy

A Kentucky judge has ruled that the state must turn over e-mails to a man who filed under the state's open records law for emails sent between his wife and a man with whom he believed she was having an affair. Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip J. Shepherd granted the request, reasoning that the two employees were state workers who were on the job when they sent the emails, and hence, they were subject to open records laws.

Source - Associated Press

We're going to face this. Might as well start looking at the implications.

http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/20/2052212&from=rss

Maryland To Tax Custom Programming and Computer Services

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday November 20, @05:48PM from the strangling-the-golden-goose dept. Government Programming The Almighty Buck

mcwop writes "Early this morning Maryland passed legislation to apply a new 6% sales tax to 'custom computer programming' and other computer- and hardware-related services. Computer industry groups lobbied hard against the measure to no avail. Purchasers of IT services may find that in-house IT and buying out-of-state become attractive options, as well as cutting money out of other projects."

Security is one – although they see it as improved surveillance.

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/21/0215224&from=rss

Technology Innovation Areas For 2025

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday November 21, @05:10AM from the i-just-want-my-rocket-car dept. Biotech Businesses Technology

Kyle Spector writes "A global futurist research firm convened an expert panel to forecast the major areas and potential advances in technology innovation through the year 2025. This blog entry contains the full list of 12 areas and some details about each, including personalized medicine, distributed energy, pervasive computing, and nanomaterials."

Dilbert on backups...

http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert2002222371121.gif