Another flash drive loss with personal ID info lost, this time in the UK
A co-worker alerted me to this news story in the United Kingdom about an external contractor who lost a flash drive containing sensitive personal information. The article begins this way:
Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, was today accused of being worse than “the Keystone Cops” at keeping data safe following the loss a memory stick containing the sensitive personal data of thousands of persistent offenders.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, made the accusation after it was revealed that the stick containing three sets of information from the J Track system – the cross-government electronic system for monitoring offenders – had been lost by an external contractor.
The Tories and the Lib Dems both urged the government to reconsider its plan for the introduction of an ID card database following the incident. PA Consulting, the contractor that lost the data, has also worked on the ID card project.
Source: “Data loss: Government like Keystone Cops, says Clegg“, by Andrew Sparrow, Allegra Stratton and agencies, Guardian.co.uk, 02008 08 22
It could be worse … maybe. http://notnews.today.com/?p=36