please empty your brain below
At the risk of stating the obvious - right on the money DG!

Just me | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 12:14 a.m. | #

Oh yes, roll on ID Cards.

el director | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 12:20 a.m. | #

Heh.

Inspector Sands | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 12:24 a.m. | #

Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Thank you.

Ham | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 12:53 a.m. | #

LAUGHING OUT LOUD.

Amused | 21.11.07 - 12:54 a.m. | #

But it will help prevent terrorism! Etc.

flashgordonnz | 21.11.07 - 12:57 a.m. | #

What a bunch of incompetant twats. Shocking, just shocking.

The Girl | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 2:58 a.m. | #

I am glad to see the Data Protection Act in action.

Debster | 21.11.07 - 7:56 a.m. | #

Genius. Well done DG.

Marc | 21.11.07 - 8:07 a.m. | #

ah but as Darling says..."The copy of the data is likely to still be on Government property."

so thats ok then

steve | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 8:23 a.m. | #

They don't know who's in the country, or who's overstayed their welcome, they can't deport failed asylum seekers without losing them, and now they give away highly sensitive personal information.

Anyone like to predict the *next* Home Office blunder?

Blue Witch | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 8:48 a.m. | #

Spot on - just read the HMRC apology - what reassurance!

Jayne | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 9:12 a.m. | #

Do you think Corals have odds on the password being "password"?

stroppycow | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 9:29 a.m. | #

And it said on the news last night that this is the THIRD time this has happened this year, but the first time we have found out about it.

Debster | 21.11.07 - 9:34 a.m. | #

That is brilliant! I can actually imagine that being sent out.

What worries me is if they can't even take care of CD's what on earth will be happening with the ID cards? hehehe

The Divine Miss M | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 10:17 a.m. | #

As will any one with children under 16, mine will have been one of those records lost....

AFC 30K | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 10:17 a.m. | #

Excellent.

NiC | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 10:56 a.m. | #

I don't know why Alistair Darling gets the blame for this. It's the Revenue's responsibility and that where the head(s) should roll. Alistair is too remove from all this, and it's not fair to blame him.

Jeremy F | 21.11.07 - 11:05 a.m. | #

"Anyone like to predict the *next* Home Office blunder?"

Umm - invention of the killer sea twig?

- exploding curtains?

- instant mouth honey?

Government is a difficult thing - but its easy to throw your arms up in the air isn't it.

garax | 21.11.07 - 11:39 a.m. | #

DG, interested in buying 2 CDs?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/
eBayISA...em=290184203092

Emmesse | 21.11.07 - 12:26 p.m. | #

Just loved your link to the Inland Revenue site - there was a warning about spoof e-mails and phone calls asking for your personal information - why bother when the HMRC just do the job for the scammers!

Dianne | 21.11.07 - 12:44 p.m. | #

Scary! I blame DHL, probably sitting in a Depot somewhere.

Tina | 21.11.07 - 1:22 p.m. | #

Something that's been puzzling me all day is how that much data could fit on 2 CDs.

Blue Witch | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 5:32 p.m. | #

Yes I was wondering about that, maybe they were dvds? Or the stuff is packed in tiny, the way you can fit Windows onto a cd and when you put it on the computer it expands like off yoghurt to fill your hard drive.

Debster | 21.11.07 - 5:44 p.m. | #

Nigerian Banking Society
Lagos, Nigeria.
Attention: Mr Ali Darling

Dear Sir/Madam,,

Confidential Business Proposal

Having consulted with my colleagues and based on the information gathered from the Nigerian Chambers Of Commerse And Industry, I have the privilege to request your assistance to transfer the sum of $47,500,000.00 (forty seven million, five hundred thousand United States dollars) into your accounts.

The above sum resulted from an over-invoiced contract, executed, commissioned and payed for about five years (5) ago by a foreign contractor.

This action was however intensional and since then the fund has been in a suspense account at The Central Bank Of Nigeria Apex Bank.

We are now ready to transfer the fund overseas and that is where you come in.

It is important to inform you that as civil servants, we are forbidden to operate a foreign account; that is why we require your assistense.

The total sum will be shared as follows: 70\\% for us, 25\\% for you and 5\\% for local and international expenses insidental to the transfer.

The transfer is risk free on both sides. I am an accountant with the Nigerian National Petrolleum Corporation (NNPC). If you find this proposal acceptable, we shall require the following documents:

(a) your banker's name, telephone, account and fax numbers.

(b) your private telephone and fax numbers —for confidentiality and easy communication.

(c) your letter-headed paper stamped and signed.

Alternatively we will furnish you with the text of what to type into your letter-headed paper, along with a breakdown explaining, comprehensively what we require of you. The business will take us thirty (30) working days to accomplish.

Please reply urgently.

Best regards

Howgul Abul Arhu

rashbre | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 8:47 p.m. | #

We have to transfer several GB of sensitive (banking, payroll and sales) data all the time at work between ourselves and major banks/building societies. DVD/CD courier is considered the *least* secure option, just because of the way courier companies are. Internal mail would be unthinkable between offices. We actually came to the conclusion that secure transfer via the internet was probably more secure than than most other methods due to the unlikelihood of someone randomly capturing it and being able to decrypt it. (VPN is best, but rarely feasible)

Even then, we won't accept couriered discs that haven't been encrypted. I grant you that the financial companies in question, ever vigilant for your security, do tend to use "User/password" as a login though... A certain building society in the news this year for losing data did precisely that.

It's a serious issue that all offices with sensitive data must face, and the best way is not always clear. Though they seem to have gone for the obvious worst one.

Chz | Homepage | 21.11.07 - 10:11 p.m. | #











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