AndyT Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 HM Revenue and Customs has lost 25,000,000 NI no.s, bank details, the lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7103566.stm You can go to bed early now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelfill Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 WTF ? Can we sue ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesmark Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7103566.stm You can go to bed early now Thank god for that, I thought I was going to have to stay up then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Thank god for that, I thought I was going to have to stay up then. Sweet dreams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imi-7 Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Complete negligence! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_supra Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 What are they like eh? They'll be losing murderers and rapists next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesmark Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 They'll be losing murderers and rapists next. Already happened, they will need to try something new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyT Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7103566.stm You can go to bed early now Thanks Michael. Efficient as always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 They never lose the tax demands though, do they ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_supra Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 They never lose the tax demands though, do they ? Or National Insurance, I got one through yesterday asking for over £400 in missed payments from when I went travelling Oz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Thank god I've never claimed child alllowance. When we had kids it was all in my ex's name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharpie Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Bloody hell What next ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGav Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 He said there was no evidence the discs had fallen into the wrong hands or that the information had been used for fraud. They are claiming people shouldn't be worried and then in the next breath advising people to check their accounts. Maybe it is because I work in the IT field and I know the value of this information, but two computer discs like this don't JUST go missing. That information would have been paid for and be worth an fortune to the highest bidder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pot Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Maybe it is because I work in the IT field and I know the value of this information, but two computer discs like this don't JUST go missing. That information would have been paid for and be worth an fortune to the highest bidder. Exactly... a) With all of the resources they have, being the government and all that, surely if information has to be transported, there are better and more secure ways than burning them onto disk and chucking them into a bag and carrying it... b) Or do they live in a non-cable area where the upload speed is shockingly pants?... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGav Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Exactly... a) With all of the resources they have, being the government and all that, surely if information has to be transported, there are better and more secure ways than burning them onto disk and chucking them into a bag and carrying it... b) Or do they live in a non-cable area where the upload speed is shockingly pants?... The bit that I think is wrong, is that fact that a 'junior official' will take the fall for this, when you can probably gather some beancounter has worked out it is cheaper to ship discs as standard post because 'it will be okay' and some senior offical made it unofficial practice. I'm assuming by the fact that they say password they mean a normal password and not some strong 2048 encryption key, which means it would take even less time to decode. Here is the scary bit, given that data would contain plain text such as the names, it wouldn't take very long with a password generator to look for english words on each pass reducing the time taken to get a full decode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesG Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 It's a fair guess that an organisation stupid enough to send a couple of CDs of their entire database through the post are unlikely to have chosen strong encryption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyT Posted November 21, 2007 Author Share Posted November 21, 2007 They are claiming people shouldn't be worried and then in the next breath advising people to check their accounts. Maybe it is because I work in the IT field and I know the value of this information, but two computer discs like this don't JUST go missing. That information would have been paid for and be worth an fortune to the highest bidder. Which is why no suspicious action has been noted yet. Also, where I work no junior official can log on to a computer with a active cd drive. Therefore no large amounts of data can be collected. Simple but effective. Makes life a pain for 'em but hey it's basic security. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbleapple Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 The bit that I think is wrong, is that fact that a 'junior official' will take the fall for this, The official in charge of the whole thing (not the Junior) resigned. As for the data going missing, my thought is that things don't just vanish. Imagine the searches the Royal Mail would have done when they realise the impact of the parcel going missing. My bet is some RM employee thought it was CD's, knicked them off the sorting lines (cheap Christmas present) and is now stuck to the toilet due to nerves following the realisation of what he has stolen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 I am completely stunned by this. As an IT professional I just can't get my head around how utterly incompetent these people have been with such sensitive data. Stunned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Apparently the discs were sent in the internal mail system. They wouldn't have got anywhere near Royal Mail as that is sent by an external agency - TNT IIRC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil tt Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Just brilliant, what a bunch of tossers:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 A government representative was on newsnight last night and Jeremy Paxman was asking her to confirm it was ultimately the government's fault and that they should take responsibility for the disaster. All she would say was that the banks would guarantee that noone's money would be touched. Errr that's not what he said! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDino Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Be quick it won't be around for long........ http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/child-benefit-cd-x-2-millions-of-personal-details_W0QQitemZ130176357093QQihZ003QQcategoryZ47103QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colsoop Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 A government representative was on newsnight last night and Jeremy Paxman was asking her to confirm it was ultimately the government's fault and that they should take responsibility for the disaster. All she would say was that the banks would guarantee that noone's money would be touched. Errr that's not what he said! Wait till they get all the info on id cards then store it on backup dvd's that will get lost. somebody could quite easily use that info to steal your identity. Incompetent beyond belief and it isn't like its an isolated case either ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now