We are now becoming so used to data breaches that only the most spectacular example receive much attention. Usually they are spectacular because of the sheer volume of data, such as the Yahoo! breach of 2013; but on this occasion the newsworthy feature of the attacks is the sensitivity of the data that was compromised. […]
According to the Business Continuity Institute’s (BCI) inaugural Information Security Report, 15% of organisations “lost sensitive data” in the last 12 months. Indeed the actual figure could be higher, as a further 15% don’t know if they did or didn’t. Whatever the precise figure, it is broadly in line with a report from IBM in
15% of Organisations have "Lost Sensitive Data" in the Last Year Read More »
The October 2015 data breach at TalkTalk, resulting in the theft of personal data of almost 157,000 customers and a record £400 000 fine, has been widely reported here and elsewhere. However, another serious breach has not been so widely reported. TalkTalk began investigating in September 2014, after receiving complaints from customer that they were
TalkTalk Fined Again by the Information Commissioner's Office Read More »
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) released its 2016/17 annual report on 13th July, which showed another steep rise in the number of data protection incidents. There were a total of 2565 self-reported data protection incidents in 2016/17, an increase of over 30% from the previous year. Once again the top sectors, by number of incidents,
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Two weeks ago the ICO announced that it had fined a senior barrister £1000 for failing to keep clients’ sensitive personal information secure. The ICO explained that the barrister had kept sensitive information on 250 clients on a home computer without using any encryption. Then, during an update of software on the computer, files were
Information Commissioner's Office Hands Out More Fines Read More »
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced yesterday that it had fined a private health company, HCA International Ltd, £200 000 for failing to keep fertility patients’ personal information secure. Back in April 2015, a patient found that transcripts of interviews with Lister Hospital IVF patients could be freely accessed by searching online. A subsequent ICO investigation
