Mumbai: The British government is hard put to explain the loss of computer disks containing detailed personal information on 25 million Britons, including bank account identifiers, potentially the most significant privacy breach of recent times. Authorities have disclosed the potentially most damaging breach of the digital era days after it had been informed. And the government defended its decision, saying banks had asked for time to put heightened security measures in place first. The data, sent out in two computer disks from a government tax agency unregistered via a private delivery service, disappeared in October. The disks contained information on families that receive government financial benefits for children. The disks contained detailed personal information on 40 per cent of the UK population: in addition to the bank account numbers, there were names, addresses and national insurance numbers, the British equivalent of social security numbers. They also held data on almost every child under 16. British families are eligible for a weekly payment of $36.30 for their first child, and $25 per additional child. Those who choose to have the money deposited directly into bank accounts must provide this information to the government. Bank officials, meanwhile, said they had scrutinised their records back to October 18, when the disks were mailed, but had noticed no unusual account activity. The disks, sent by the UK tax collection agency, Her Majesty''''s Revenue and Customs, to the national audit office, which monitors government spending, via a parcel delivery company TNT, were password protected but not encrypted, the government said. It may be noted that this is the third such episode this year in which the agency improperly handled its vast archive of personal data. The agency was also at fault for sending of a second set of disks when the first set did not reach its destination.
|
|
