Data Leaks

Nearly 7,000 People Affected by the Latest UK Data Loss

One more HMRC incident confirmed

By Bogdan Popa, Security and Search Engines Editor

19th of December 2007, 20:06 GMT

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I think the HMRC employees would really need such a security system

Yep, this is another data loss confirmed by Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs, but this time only 6,500 people were affected. I'm starting to get used to it and I think Britons are not worried anymore, because those data losses tend to become a part of their lives. Personally,

I can't imagine my personal information falling into criminal hands, but it may happen to thousands maybe million of people every day. And this especially because of weak security measures or employees' negligence. But, let's get back to the news: HMRC yesterday confirmed a new data loss that affected 6,500 pensioners after their details had gone missing in September.

The information bit the dust in an office in Cardiff, after it had been sent by Countrywide Assured, a life assurance and pensions firm, Silicon.com wrote in an article published today. The details included names, addresses, pensions contributions and national insurance numbers, the same source cited an HMRC representative.

"We are taking this loss extremely seriously and have done everything possible to locate the data cartridge. We would like to apologise to all those affected", HMRC explained.

In comparison with the other data losses involving the HMRC, this time the information cannot be accessed by an authorized person, Graham Kettleborough, chief executive officer of Chesnara, the parent company of Countrywide Assured, said for the same source mentioned above. All the pensioners affected by the data loss have been informed through a letter sent in September.

Now, let's get back to November. At that time, 25 million people were in danger after HMRC sent to unencrypted (I repeat, unencrypted) discs containing a huge amount of details to another department. They had never reached their destination, but the HMRC underlines the fact that the discs could be still in government's property. The problem is that they are not sure; so what if they fell into criminal hands?

TAGS:

hmrc | security | data loss | pensioner

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