From The Metro:
A USB stick dropped by a Leeds City Council employee was found in a car by a member of the public. It had been reported missing but its owner told the council it did not contain any sensitive information.
In fact the unencrypted data on the device included the names, dates of birth, ethnicity, addresses and telephone numbers of around 5,000 nursery-age children living in the Leeds area.
It also contained confidential information about child protection and whether or not the children's parents claimed state benefits.
A Leeds City Council spokeswoman said: "We take issues of information security very seriously and are very sorry that this breach has occurred. We have guidance in place which seeks to prevent such incidents occurring including advice on using memory sticks.
ID-cards, anybody?
Monday, 8 December 2008
"Children details on lost USB stick"
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3 comments:
It's a sign of the times - masses of information on one small stick.
Thimk of the files and folders years ago that would have been used to hold that much info - it would be physically impossible to misplace such a horde!
JPT: "It's a sign of the times "
I beg to differ. The real sign of the times is the utter disregard for minimum standards, in anything to do with the 'public services'. Other than possibly the Armed forces.
Is anyone else getting tired of this "We have guidance" bollocks? It's wheeled out every time the state loses a shedload of sensitive data like some sort of hypnotic mantra.
The buggers may well have the best policies, guidlines and regulations ever invented by man, but that's immaterial. Why? Because it's patently clear that nobody is actually following them.
AND THAT'S THE BLOODY PROBLEM!!!!!!
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