News

Customers of German chemist chain Schlecker have been exposed in their hundreds of thousands after an error by the IT vendor used by the firm. Over 150,000 customers are believed to have been affected by the incident during which anyone could have gained access to detailed personal information via the internet. The vendor quickly patched [...]

DSG Retail, the firm which operates various high street brands including PC World and Dixons, has been the victim of a brow-beating at the hands of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), after it emerged that it had improperly disposed of personal details relating to several customers. The data in question was located close to an [...]

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has become involved in a data loss incident involving Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) after it emerged that the firm had become the victim of laptop theft. The laptop which was stolen is deemed to be particularly vulnerable to exploitation because it is completely unencrypted, leaving personal financial details of customers [...]

Malicious software on a USB memory stick is being blamed for the most significant loss of data ever to have been recorded by the US military. US secretary of defence William Lynn said that a foreign agent was able to hack into a laptop using malware which was installed from a USB stick and he [...]

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has become involved in another data loss scandal involving an NHS trust, this time located in Wolverhampton. The Data Protection Act (DPA) was breached by the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust after it emerged that more than 100 patients had their details exposed in a moderately serious data loss incident. [...]

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has imposed fines of nearly £2.3 million against the UK arm of Zurich Insurance over a serious data loss incident in which 46,000 of its customers had their details exposed. The fine is a new record and the FSA’s Margaret Cole said that it was appropriate because Zurich had failed [...]

A new study has concluded that most people choose passwords that are far too short to be totally secure against brute force attacks from criminals. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are recommending that 12 characters becomes the standard length to ensure protection. This conclusion has been reached as a result of a hacking [...]

Some believe that the best way to ensure the security of cloud-based platforms and to bolster confidence in them is to opt for private rather than public services. The uptake of cloud computing is continuing to grow and it has been widely publicised that the key roadblock to adoption for many businesses is the risk [...]

A medical clinic in Dudley has come under fire after it emerged that patient records and unused prescription forms were left abandoned in the car park directly adjacent to the practice. The data loss appears to be one of the most basic possible, although it is not known whether the records were accidentally or deliberately [...]

As deep cuts to the budget are being made to counteract the impact of the national deficit, the UK government is being advised and criticised over the money-saving option of outsourcing a variety of IT services both domestically and overseas. Analyst Ovum suggests that the best way in which to save cash is to outsource [...]