bank details of 25m people in the UK could be the hands of just about anyone!

[bigfootedfred]

Two computer discs holding the personal details of all families in the UK with a child under 16 have gone missing. The Child Benefit data on them includes name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number and, where relevant, bank details of 25m people.

MPs gasped as Mr Darling told them: "The missing information contains details of all Child Benefit recipients: records for 25 million individuals and 7.25 million families. "

this is just absolutely pathetic...i mean really...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7103566.stm

[Erebus Pasha]

And apparently they knew about this for some time, but only decided to let us know now. Why do things like this keep happening?

Of course no heads will role. The person or people responsible will probably get a bonus for it!!!

[Valentin the II]

Bwahahahaha.

No seriously who ceeps such sensetive information on a disc?
Thats just ****ing iresponsible.

[Paggers]

And apparently they knew about this for some time, but only decided to let us know now. Why do things like this keep happening?

Of course no heads will role. The person or people responsible will probably get a bonus for it!!!

Depends how senior they are.
Junior staff - quietly removed from employment.
Senior staff - quietly removed from post and re-assigned at a similar or higher grade.

Yep, I am that cynical.

[Erebus Pasha]

Depends how senior they are.
Junior staff - quietly removed from employment.
Senior staff - quietly removed from post and re-assigned at a similar or higher grade.

Yep, I am that cynical.

Well apparently there was a claim that a junior assistant had disregarded procedure, but that turned out to be false.

[Shaun]

***** ******** ***** ****** ****** ******** *********!

[King Edward III]

Labour does it again.

***** ******** ***** ****** ****** ******** *********!

..something to do with Alex Salmond, right?

[Carach]

Labour does it again.

and yet people still support them....

the amount of scandals over the past decade would have toppled half a dozen governments if this had been only a few decades ago.

[bigfootedfred]

its just an absolute joke!

what are 25 million people's entire financial details doing on a CD rom in the first place! its a ****ing joke!
then we move on to the even more ridiculous part where they managed to lose them! and they want to set up a national ID database...haha

[Big War Bird]

Oh noos!!!11!!

Get used to it, I have someone try to buy a car or a house with my name every six months or so.

[LoZz]

Oh noos!!!11!!

Get used to it, I have someone try to buy a car or a house with my name every six months or so.

most of us are not so careless.

as for the OP, what can i say, but....



no he ****ing isn't.

[Big War Bird]

most of us are not so careless.

They try, they don't succeed.

[GrnEyedDvl]

If I lived in the UK I would be pissed as hell. Its bad enough when a govt/business gets hacked, but to send stuff like this through the mail is ridiculous, internal system or not. Thats why networks were created. I assume identity theft is as bad there as it is here, this is inexcuseable.

This is the line that would really concern me though:

It is the latest and by far the most serious of a string of missing data incidents at HM Revenue and Customs

So does something like this happen there often??

The more instances of your personal information that are stored on computer, the greater the chances of **** like this happening. Think of all the places its stored: your bank, anyone that issues you credit, credit reporting bureaus, work, online shopping, and lots of various government agencies. The odds are already stacked against you, you dont need some fool throwing it on CD.

[Erebus Pasha]

So does something like this happen there often??

The more instances of your personal information that are stored on computer, the greater the chances of **** like this happening. Think of all the places its stored: your bank, anyone that issues you credit, credit reporting bureaus, work, online shopping, and lots of various government agencies. The odds are already stacked against you, you dont need some fool throwing it on CD.

Yeah it seems to happen on regular occasions my friend. We even had the situations where sensitive intelligence files were dumped by a roadside a few years ago!!! The problem is that lessons don't seem to be learnt and nobody takes the blame for anything that has gone wrong. They will do an investigation of course which will clear everyone of any blame. If somebody is sacked it's usually the guy making the coffee or doing the photocopying!!!

[GrnEyedDvl]

Conan the Librarian lmaoo Ahnuld would not be amused...

[The Prophet]

This is madness!

[King Edward III]

This is madness!

THIS IS LABOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUR!

[the Black Prince]

hmmmm

the home office is "not fit for purpose"
the ministry of defence is constantly under attack from current and former senior military officers for not looking after troops
the treasury can't keep track of financial records

anyone see a trend?


incidentally, this is the same government that wants to combine ALL our personal data into a single national database which just about anyone in the public sector would have access too...

and they honestly expect us to trust them? i think not.

[Tacticalwithdrawal]

point 1 - it has little to do with Labour, it's the civil servants that have screwed up

point 2 - actually I quite like this, it now means my bank accounts have high priority watch flags on them, no bad thing

point 3 - it is very funny, especially when you read the story and realise the actual timeline was:

1. National Audit Office (NAO) asks for limited account details so that they can pick accounts to come on-site and do a full audit on
2. Some bright spark downloads and sends the database in its entirety - which is what they did the last time the NAO asked for information
3. Said bright spark then posts it through internal mail with no logging or crpto, but he did password protect it ( )
4. A couple of days later NAO asks where the data is
5. Bright spark downloads the data again and again sends it through internal mail unlogged
6. This time it turns up
7. NAO look at what was sent and (as their jaws hit the floor) asks whether that was what was on the first set of disks
8. Bright spark cnfirms that was what he sent last time
9. NAO gently suggest maybe bright spark should be worried about the first set
10. After a few days on nothing NAO slightly more forcibly suggest the disks be found
11. After a bit longer NAO tell bright spark that if he doesn't get his fecking arse in gear they will come and feed him through a shredder (or words to that effect)
12. Only then is a senior bright spark told about it, he delays a while before telling anyone.........
13. Eventually the boss is told, freaks, tells the chancellor who also freaks and tells the PM who totally loses it
14. Boss quickly resigns
15. Nobody knows what happened to the bright spark.....

It is absolutely brilliant

edit - it's just got even better, the reason they sent the whole dataset was (apparently) because it was too difficult/expensive to remove all the sensitive data and only send the names and NI numbers (as asked for by the NAO).

Maybe they should take some SQL courses.......

[mongrel]

According to the Times HMRC have lost another two disks!!!