Police Complaints joins inquest into Darling data giveaway

Police complaints authority the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is to investigate the loss of 25 million private records by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The loss of two CDs containing the UK's entire child benefit database is now being investigated by: the Metropolitan Police, an inquiry led by …

[Anonymous Coward]

Will be a breaze...

The result shouldn't be too hard on HMRC, considering that the Met can shoot random Brazilian dudes and get away with it.

Will HMRC be forced to apologize again? The suspense is killing me.

[Joe Stalin]

other inverstigations

Ok I don't have kids so I hope that excludes me for the lost data but if I thought/knew my data had been lost like this I would be making for the bank to change my account and then of to the cop shop to file a complaint.

On the subject of changing bank account details. I would want to change the account number at the very least, possible move branch that way I get a new sort code as well. Do that for 7.25 milllion families and it's going to cost the bank as fortune and every one will want it like yesterday. Will HMGov offer compensation to the bank?

Oh and I used the "where's the IT angle" icon as obviously HMCR has no idea about IT in any shape or form.

[Smallbrainfield]

Some poor tea jockey is going to get

the blame for what is probably an endemic lack of care taken with personal information. Darling actually called some of their systems 'ancient' on the Today programme this morning.

[Dan]

Dropping the s from resign

That's what New Labour's legacy will be be.

[IanKRolfe]

Wouldn't it be amusing...

If the 2 disks never actually were sent, but the office newbie entrusted with burning and sending the disks forgot to do it. Oldest excuse in the world: "I put it in the post - It didn't arrive? Oh OK, I'll burn two more and send them!"

So we could have hundreds of people looking for 2 disks that don't exist......

[Hollerith]

Investigate with the usual result

A big fine, no resignations, no blame except for some lowly worker bee, and business as usual. Isn't that what happens when the Police investigate?

[Risky]

of course

I await news that the courier turns out to be a failed asylum seeker.....

[Dunstan Vavasour]

Sir Humphrey would be proud

"As a way of burying the issue, let's have not one but four inquiries, and each can be held up because the others haven't yet reported."

[Chris Collins]

I can save them some time

Allow me to save any further wasted tax money (put £24 billion in the big, black hole, you say) and to complete the recommendations for them - don't send the information on CD by post.

[William Donelson]

Jeez, if an HMRC truck driver is drunk and runs over someone...

...is that Alistair Darling's fault.

Let's see ANY of you do a better job.

Get real.

[Anton Ivanov]

I know that I will be flamed into a crisp but none the less

If the was a centralised database with correct access control there would have been no need to send anything.

OK, now I have said it I need to go and look for that nice asbestos suit (or some tools to appropriate the right to use the old nuclear shelter in the hill in front of my house).

[Anonymous Coward]

@ William Donelson

You loser. Let's see anyone do a better job? Yes, that's exactly what most people in this country today want to happen, for AD to resign and let someone else do a (much) better job. If Alistair Darling is the best man for the job then lord help us all. And no, he can't avoid blame by not having been in the job for that long; he has said that there systems are ancient, so knowing that he should have initiated measures to look to update or replace archaic systems. That's the point of his job isn't it? Or is he only there to shore everything up and hope that it doesn't go tits-up on his watch?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, yes it is

He ultimately takes responsibility for everything under him. If this incident is symptomatic of general lack of responsibility for personal data in those working under him then it *is* his fault and he should resign.

As to doing a better job, I should imagine that pretty well anyone could. After all, if he's a Minister, that surely means he's failed at any proper job.

[AndyB]

Get real?

@William Donelson

Yes, we all know that ol' Eyebrows isn't *personally* to blame. But the Government, in general keep banging on about how they can be trusted with our personal data with regards to the National ID card database while time, and time, and time, and time again they demonstrate that they, absolutely, cannot be trusted any further than I could throw a number 9 bus.

And yes, I can, and do, do a *much* better job, as could a large number of other Reg readers whose jobs also involve secure/sensitive data.

[Guy]

Anyone heard of the information highway?

Lets see, when was the last time that I had to burn information off onto a disk to give to someone else...probably about 3-4 years ago. Has no-one in any of these government departments heard about the fact you can now send information through the tubes that make up the internet (ok security not guaranteed). leased line anyone. Also I'm sure the army/police have pretty secure data transfer methods, that don't include bringing the data out in the real world. It was designed to run in a data network, why not just keep it there and transfer from one silo to another electronically. Digital data, digital transfer, encryption...where does "use the CD burner" come into it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Darling, captain Darling ?

And was it not General Melchett sending Darling to do the job ?

Oh, and yes, it's gonna be Baldrick who will get shown the door, and

Blackadder behind the whole fuckup.

[Dan]

@ William Donelson

The point is if nobody resigns nobody cares if it happens again. The boss is there for exactly that reason in this sort of organization. What other role do you think he has?

Darling can serve no other purpose, what exactly are his expertise in the field? Or any politician in any field for that matter. We are not ruled by experts, it has always been this way, it'll never change. But the non-experts at the top must be punished for systemic failure.

Tony Blair, Ian Blair etc being unpunished does not bode well for the future of the organizations they manage. Profitable and well run organizations are characterized by the opposite, observe US investment banks recently.

[Olaf]

So what about the Government Secure Intranet

It costs shed loads of cash. Is encrypted end to end and is the Government mandated method of moving sensitive information.

Part of the CPNI, the bit that was formerly NISCC, has produced some very good guidance on information security over the past few years. It would be nice to know that the Gov would pay some attention to it's own security geezers.

Did everyone like Darling's comments that the National ID card scheme would be much safer, "Coz it uses biometrics, and shit" (I'm paraphrasing). Nice to have it confirmed that those in charge really do know SFA about data security.

[Dave]

@Anton Ivanov

If there was one central database then it wouldn't be the data that got left around but the access keys. Post-it notes with passwords on them, lending your tag to a colleague who's temporarily misplaced theirs, etc. There would be a field in everyone's record listing priority for putting against the wall and shooting in the event of a purge by the government of the day.

[Andy]

@guy

The point is that the data should not have been sent in the first place, not without remiving all that lovely ID information.

The fact that it was sent in an insecure manner is just the icing on the cake.

[Anonymous Coward]

It isn't the technology...

... The problem is the people and hence; the Processes and Procedures that govern them and their activities. And finally, the ACCOUNTA-FUCKIN-BILITY!

As with most of these types of failures there is non of the above.

FDE would be mandatory on all corporate/goverment laptops if that were the case. Anyone caught leaving their Laptops in Starbucks/airport/meeting room would be summarily executed (ok, atleast it should be a disciplinary offence)!

How can there not be a procedure in place to describe HOW data was to be transfered?!?! WTF kind of morons are running this country!

How can these same morons stand up in parliment and say that they can be trusted with ALL our ID card data! Given how little accountability there has been in this case; why should we expect anymore when the ID database becomes compromized/abused.

Has anyone in the Blair/Brown govt EVER resigned because they'd done a bad job?

Paris Hilton could organise this better!

[Voice of reason]

Can we stop...

...wasting more of my tax money on this please? How much is

the police investigation going to cost?

Yes I have kids, so chances are my details are on those disks, but

guess what? I'm not really that bothered. If, in the unlikely event

that it happens, my bank account gets emptied, I'll get the money

back anyway - just in case, here's a tip, don't leave ALL your money

in your current account.

So someone maybe has my address, woopie-do for them! It's all on

192.com anyhow thanks to the electronic electoral register.

Yes they should have encrypted the data, or not sent it by post or

whatever - but I bet more money gets wasted on investigating this and

chuffing about than gets stolen from people's bank accounts.

The media love to scare-monger and the opposition parties like to

score political points. It's a load of old balls, nobody's ID or

money will be stolen as a result of this.

PS. I did originally post my bank account number and sort code previously, but the El Reg moderators bounced the posting. And there's me thinking that what with all the effing, jeffing and personal attacks on here there was no moderation. Cheers Sarah ;o)

[Voice of reason]

Can we stop...

...wasting more of my tax money on this please? How much is

the police investigation going to cost?

Yes I have kids, so chances are my details are on those disks, but

guess what? I'm not really that bothered. If, in the unlikely event

that it happens, my bank account gets emptied, I'll get the money

back anyway - just in case, here's a tip, don't leave ALL your money

in your current account.

So someone maybe has my address, woopie-do for them! It's all on

192.com anyhow thanks to the electronic electoral register.

Yes they should have encrypted the data, or not sent it by post or

whatever - but I bet more money gets wasted on investigating this and

chuffing about than gets stolen from people's bank accounts.

The media love to scare-monger and the opposition parties like to

score political points. It's a load of old balls, nobody's ID or

money will be stolen as a result of this.

PS. I did originally post my bank account number and sort code previously, but the El Reg moderators bounced the posting. And there's me thinking that what with all the effing, jeffing and personal attacks on here there was no moderation. Cheers Sarah ;o)

[Graham Marsden]

@Sarah

> If, in the unlikely event that it happens, my bank account gets emptied, I'll get the money back anyway

You hope! The expression "Mineralogical Haemoglobin Extraction" comes to mind because the banks will argue that it wasn't their fault and they were not liable for the loss and obviously it's the Government who should foot the bill.

In the mean time if someone uses your information to take out loans or credit cards and then defaults on those it's *your* credit record which will end up screwed up. Sure, eventually you might get that fixed, but you're going to waste a lot of time doing so.

And the same goes for everyone else who may be affected.

PS

> I did originally post my bank account number and sort code previously, but the El Reg moderators bounced the posting. And there's me thinking that what with all the effing, jeffing and personal attacks on here there was no moderation

Yet they allow a duplicate post one minute after the original...!