Ministers 'ignored data security warnings'

Please read the whole of this article in the Telegraph. It is just goes from bad to worse. The article currently has 3 pages. How many more will it need?

Some points from the article

• HMRC has had 2,111 data protection breaches in the past year, according to the Tories. Customs refused to disclose details of what these were
• A government review of security in 2003 identified “serious risks” of information going astray and recommended data should be encrypted.
• The chairman of HMRC who resigned over the fiasco is still on full salary and will receive a full pension package.
• Mr Darling has repeatedly pinned the blame for the missing CDs on a “junior official” at the HMRC who put them in the post. Yet the staff member was following procedures laid down in March by senior HMRC managers when a similar request for data was made by the National Audit Office.
• Mr Darling also told parliament that he delayed announcing the loss of the CDs for 10 days after being told about it on November 10 because banks wanted more time to prepare anti-fraud measures.
• The British Banking Association said: “The BBA did not ask for more time and none of our members asked for more time.”
• The Association of Payment Clearing Services, which manages the movement of money between banks, said: “We found out on Friday and were given until Monday to sort it out. There was no request for a delay.”
• An almost identical breach of security involving CDs happened in September 2005, when the names, addresses, dates of birth and bank details of UBS customers were lost in the post after being posted by HMRC.
• Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, said he had repeatedly warned the Government that its data protection procedures were not up to scratch. He said: “I have been pressing the Government to give my office the power to audit and inspect organisations that process people’s personal information without first having to get their consent.”
• In July this year Mr Thomas warned that data protection breaches in Government departments were "frankly horrifying”. Turning to the latest breach, he said: “It is a shocking case. I am at a loss to find out what happened in this situation. This goes beyond legal compliance. Any aggregated system for collecting information must be proof against criminals, it must be proof against idiots, it must be proof against those who don’t follow the ordinary rules of procedure.”

What more can I add.

Ministers 'ignored data security warnings' - Telegraph

HMCR Junior Official Found

I hear they’ve found the “junior” official from HMCR, he was found at Wembley playing in goal for England. Claimed he had got lost in the post.

Another quote from last night from a text message on the BBC. This time from Watson in Aberdeen.

“Without doubt, the defining image of McClaren’s short reign. With their backs against the wall, England need blood, sweat and tears, and yet McClaren stood there helpless, umbrella aloft, not even prepared to get his hair wet! What would Churchill say?”

Next step Home Internationals?

Parachuting in the Sun

I rather liked the advert in the top right corner for Customs and Excise as they bailed out of a plane as Darling will surely have to do from the Government if this scandal gets any worse. Strike three cannot be long.

Its juxtaposition with the article on the loss of 25 million records by HMCR is striking.