| TNT the courier firm have managed to mislay or lose 2 confidential CD-Rom discs containing details of all Child Benefit recipients which means the records for 25 million individuals and seven and a quarter million families. The Chancellor of the Exchequor told the UK Parliament today that the missing discs contain personal data including the names, National Insurance and bank details of millions of child benefit recipients. This means that the personal details of every family in the country with a child under 16 have gone missing.
If you read this in a novel you'd think the plot was a bit OTT but this has actually happened. The alleged breaches of ebay's security some months ago pales into insignificance compared to the possible implications of this incredible development. If these discs get into fraudsters' hands, they will be equipped with all they need to get cracking with identity fraud on a massive scale. I think if I was one of those 25 million people whose records have gone missing I would be changing my bank account rapidly.
It does beg the question what were these discs doing being couried in the first place. Presumably some of the work on child benefit has been outsourced. It just shows the dangers when confidential material of this nature does not remain exclusively in government hands.
The Chairman of the Inland Revenue & Customs has resigned over the matter. There was a time years ago when politicians used to take responsibility too but these days they cling on to office in the hope they can bluff their way out of the crisis. So I don't suppose there will be any ministerial resignations over this. Perhaps the role of Chancellor of the Exchequer should be outsourced too - surely no-one could do much worse than the present occupier who has already risked billions of pouds of taxpayers money bailing out the Northern Rock bank. |