U.K. Takes Tough Stance On Data Breaches
It wasn’t that long ago that the loss of a laptop or hard disk containing sensitive information about consumers was big news. Sadly, it’s becoming much more common these days. In fact, it’s so common that U.K. Information Commissioner Richard Thomas and his staff have looked into some 6000 complaints.
"The roll call of banks, retailers, government departments, public bodies and other organizations which have admitted serious security lapses is frankly horrifying," Richard Thomas wrote in a report. "How can laptops holding details of customer accounts be used away from the office without strong encryption? How can millions of store card transactions fall into the wrong hands?"
The best leak is the kind that never happened. Let’s hope that as public awareness of data protection is on the rise, that the people in positions to actually leak data are also becoming more aware.
