Data security bungles continue
Published:
GOVERNMENT staff have been sending out highly-sensitive data in packages that include the passwords, it was revealed yesterday.
The errors at the Department for Work and Pensions defeat the purpose of tighter security rules brought in after last year’s data loss scandals, according to an internal e-mail.
The startling admission comes in a message circulated to staff by one of the department’s security advisers and will provoke fresh doubts over UK Government systems.
Instructions issued to civil servants last December made it clear that passwords should always be sent separately from sensitive information, whether it was being transported by courier or electronically.
The e-mail, leaked to internet blog Dizzy Thinks, warns: “Could I ask you to remind staff of the heightened security surrounding data transfer and ensure that data and passwords are sent separately.”
Last November HM Revenue & Customs had lost discs containing 25million child benefit records and then the Department for Transport lost details of three million candidates for the driver theory test.
A department spokeswoman said: “We take the security of individuals’ data extremely seriously.
“We carried out a major review of procedures around the transfer of data to ensure the security of customer information.”
Shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling said: “This latest government data blunder highlights how the government’s control over data security seems to go from bad to worse.”
