Data losses—now it’s getting personal, says Anya Proops
Over the past three months the government has admitted to: the loss of two CDs containing personal data, including banking details, relating to 25 million parents; the loss in the US of personal data relating to three million UK learner drivers; and, further, a laptop containing the personal data, including banking details, of some 600,000 individuals who had expressed an interest in joining the armed forces.
In December 2007, eight NHS trusts admitted to losing up to 168,000 patient records. Also in December 2007, Leeds Building Society admitted that it had lost the salary and banking details of 1,000 employees. In January 2008, Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, issued an enforcement notice against Marks & Spencer (M&S) after an unencrypted laptop containing information about the pension arrangements of around 26,000 M&S employees was stolen from a contractor.
PROTECTION CONCERNS
These staggering developments have not only seriously dented public confidence in the ability of public and private sector organisations to keep our personal data secure, they have also reawakened concerns
