ZDNet UK - Business IT News and Reviews * Sign In * Join Login ____________________ Search * UK Edition * ZDNet is available in the following editions: Asia Australia China France Germany Japan USA * News * Reviews * Blogs * Data-roaming charges * Mobile IT * Datacentre tour * Broadband * Graphene * Cloud * Security ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Security / Security Management HMRC loses thousands of pensioners' details By Tom Espiner, ZDNet.co.uk, 18 December, 2007 18:02 @tomespiner Topics HMRC, Data loss, Data breach, Data security IFRAME: http://bwp.zdnet.co.uk/search%3Fstyle=new NEWS Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs has admitted losing the personal details of over 6,500 people claiming pensions. The details were lost at an office of HM Revenue & Customs in Cardiff after a data cartridge went missing in September, an HMRC spokesperson said on Tuesday. The cartridge had been sent to the Cardiff office by Countrywide Assured, a life assurance and pensions company. Details on the cartridge included names, addresses, national insurance numbers and pension contributions, according to Graham Kettleborough, chief executive officer of Chesnara, the parent company of Countrywide Assured. The cartridge was signed for when it reached the office but was subsequently mislaid, said the HMRC spokesperson. However, the spokesperson insisted that, because the information on the data cartridge can only be accessed by a mainframe computer, the risk to the individuals involved is "very low". Kettleborough said that, in regard to personal pension policies, Countrywide Assured made submissions to HMRC "to make the correct tax additions to policies and [to get] the right numbers for the right people". The breach was outlined by HMRC's director general, Dave Hartnett, to the Treasury select committee last week. Compromised personal details have in the past been sold to fraudsters for the purposes of identity theft and other criminal activities. Chesnara said it had sent a letter to those affected, and that the letter had been partly an explanation of what had happened and partly an apology. Read this Feature Feature: Cracking open the cybercrime economy Hacking for fun has evolved into hacking for profit, and created a business model that is nearly as sophisticated as that of legal software Read more + HMRC said in a statement on Tuesday: "We are taking this loss extremely seriously and have done everything possible to locate the data cartridge. We would like to apologise to all those affected." The breach is the latest in a series of incidents, seven of which have affected HMRC this year. In November, HMRC admitted to losing the details, including bank account information, of 25 million people claiming and receiving child benefits, while, earlier this week, the Driving Standards Agency admitted to compromising the personal details of three million learner drivers. * 3 * IFRAME: http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.zdnet.co.uk%2Fn ews%2Fsecurity-management%2F2007%2F12%2F10%2Fbrown-alerted-to-hmrc-data- risk-in-2004-39291417%2F&layout=button_count&show_faces=false&width=95&a ction=recommend&colorscheme=light&height=21 * Tweet * Reddit * Email * Print * Alert Related stories Watchdog: HMRC did breach data laws Darling: Greater accountability key to data security Public confidence shaken by data breaches Privacy watchdog to push data safeguards Brown alerted to HMRC data risk in 2004 Talkback How many times do we have to hear of some Government department or agency losing track of our private data, then listen to them bleating and ringing their hands about how this never happens and that it won't happen again .. honest. How often does this have to happen before the public wake up and realise that HMG are the very last people we should be trusting to set up the biggest database of personal data (note: OUR private data) that has ever existed. The National Identity Register, database behind the ID card project, breaks records for the first and the biggest on a number of fronts. Trust us; we're the government. Yeah right. Andrew Meredith 19 December, 2007 14:22 Reply While such thoughts are certainly to be vehemently rejected by the civil service, I think it is time that Data Protection law made it an individuals responsibility whenever a data loss occurred. If it is made mandatory that data (discs, cartridges, dongles, etc) is receipted at EVERY stage of its journey and logged in at destination, then it will be a simple matter to apportion blame and initiate prosecution. Individual civil servants must accept responsibility. 1000215420 13 February, 2009 16:55 Reply While I whole heartedly agree, I'm afraid I laughed like a drain when I read this. You and I both know that that is utterly and completely counter-cultural for the Civil Services. It could never be implemented. Andrew Meredith 13 February, 2009 17:00 Reply Post your comment In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in. You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below * Login * Your email * ____________________ Will not be displayed with your comment Choose a username * ____________________ Choose a password * ____________________ Retype password * ____________________ Captcha * IFRAME: http://api.recaptcha.net/noscript?k=6LdcdQgAAAAAABTF2WRTFCrJRF1JWvGsGJDdhDaq ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ (Submit) Submit By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ ZDNet UK Live Nicolo Totti Great list, but how about http://workforcetrack.com is it worth to consider this SaaS solution? 8 hours ago by Nicolo Totti on Ten collaboration tools to help teams click b.nimble Having been an early adapter (since 1996) of Blackberry phones and still a loyal BB user, the tsunami of bad news about RIM lately is very painful... 10 hours ago by b.nimble on Open letter puts RIM's woes in the spotlight Crow "It's a shame that people can't seem to grasp the concept of keeping things simple." True. Neal really keeps thing simple, I have used his LXDE... 12 hours ago by Crow on PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.6 - Excellent Lightweight Dustin S. Wing I tend to disagree with the author about it not working well with laptops. I just spent a week reviewing it on my own review site. I found it to... 14 hours ago by Dustin S. Wing via Facebook on Specialized Linux Distributions - AV Linux 5.0 hexenwesen "Microsoft Windows-native applications are a necessity for most PC users." Do you really think that's true? Certainly some users have specific... 14 hours ago by hexenwesen on Ten Linux apps that need to raise their game FewClues Jake, I felt your pain early on. I have stopped working on Windows completely except to install Linux. - which I do for free to impress them with... 18 hours ago by FewClues on I still hate Windows, even now garyc Hi *Fantastic* Article I can totally relate to everything you are saying....in the past I've seen single core celeron /1gb "servers" (Wouldn't... 18 hours ago by garyc on Keeping things simple in IT Adryf Fkera Yeah, it must be Xperia X10 mini pro with an old Android 1.6 - that's why Jake mentioned crashes and delays with launching camera. @Jake; There's... 19 hours ago by Adryf Fkera via Facebook on Finally, a use for my phone 47674 Marathon was renamed because it was known as Snickers outside the UK, and it was cheaper to re-brand Marathon. 'Ping' is a common term in I.T.... 20 hours ago by 47674 on Microsoft gives developers a slice of Mango Terry Walsh Whilst the official release date is July 15th, orders placed with HP UK are looking more like they'll be delivered next week:... 20 hours ago by Terry Walsh via Facebook on HP TouchPad: UK launch details and likely prospects Andrew D K Robin Surely you mean Xperia X10 MINI Pro. The Xperia Pro won't come out until the end of this month! 20 hours ago by Andrew D K Robin via Facebook on Finally, a use for my phone jamessp007 I too am a fan of Linux Mint and have consistently found that PCLOS and Mint are close competitors and fine distributions. I am currently running... 21 hours ago by jamessp007 on PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.6 - Excellent Lightweight SoapyTablet The idea that you can disinfect a Windows Machine using Anti-virus software is, personally I think - dead in the water, or soon will be (within a... 21 hours ago by SoapyTablet on I still hate Windows, even now kmb42vt I agree that LMDE and LMDX are very promising releases but what everyone needs to keep in mind is that these releases are only in their infancy... 22 hours ago by kmb42vt on Linux Mint Debian Edition Updates SoapyTablet Continued... To fix the issue, you will need to change out the OEM SLP key with the COA SLP key. The normal way to do this is to click the... 22 hours ago by SoapyTablet on I still hate Windows, even now SoapyTablet @JackSchofield, Please be less cynical with the people on here - accusing people of 'sounding very unlikely' , ie. basically lying. It is... 22 hours ago by SoapyTablet on I still hate Windows, even now David Meyer It's not available to US users. UK only. 23 hours ago by David Meyer on BBC lets listeners adjust Wimbledon sound balance barnseybsc Great news here for everyone in the World I hope, just a small question for the writer(s) of this article. When did the scientific community start... 23 hours ago by barnseybsc on Scientists hit record-breaking 26Tbps by laser Tony Zeoli As long as this player is available to U.S. users, Fraunhofer is infringing on the U.S. Trademark for "netmix" for use in conjunction with... 23 hours ago by Tony Zeoli via Facebook on BBC lets listeners adjust Wimbledon sound balance Jack Schofield @apexwm Commercial laptops are almost always pre-activated so your story sounds very unlikely. Or maybe your cousin bought it in a pub, or... 1 day ago by Jack Schofield on I still hate Windows, even now Latest in Security Management Privacy watchdog warns NHS to tighten data security Reid calls for government to recruit hackers Symantec highlights iOS and Android flaws Featured white papers Cloud-computing infrastructure: Do more with less IBM Why buy the whole plane when you can just reserve a seat on the flight? Your company's cloud computing capacity is only... Download now Three must-haves to securing the social web Websense Businesses can embrace the social web and still keep safe from the enterprise-sized risks that come with it. From... Download now Organisational Resistance to the Cloud: a view from the Field Microsoft The IT industry and many IT leaders are fascinated by the opportunities to change the economics of information... Download now IFRAME: http://www.facebook.com/plugins/recommendations.php?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zd net.co.uk%2F&width=300&height=300&header=true&colorscheme=light Latest jobs Salesforce.com Integration Consultants, £50-70K, South East Salesforce.com Integration Consultants, £50 - £70K + Bonus & Benefits (Healthcare, Pension, Car allowance), South... Apply now Project Manager - Access Planning The scope of the programme is to improve the way access to the UK rail network is planned and delivered. The ideal... Apply now iPhone Developer - iOS - immediate start My client is looking for an exceptional iPhone developer to join the team. You would join a team that is expanding... Apply now Inside ZDNet UK Inside Telecity's co-location datacentre Inside Telecity's co-location datacentre PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.6 - Excellent Lightweight PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.6 - Excellent Lightweight Toshiba Portégé R830-138 Toshiba Portégé R830-138 Understanding Awareness in Mixed Presence Collaboration Understanding Awareness in Mixed Presence Collaboration How fast is your broadband? How fast is your broadband? Join ZDNet UK on Facebook Join ZDNet UK on Facebook Graphene: Future IT Graphene: Future IT * Join | Sign In * Follow ZDNet: Twitter and RSS * Close ZDNet UK - Business IT News and Reviews News & Analysis * Mobile IT * Workspace IT * Cloud * Virtualisation * Security * Application Development * Infrastructure * Emerging Tech * Business of IT * After Hours Reviews * Laptops * Desktops * Handhelds * Monitors * Network Storage * Printers * Operating Systems * Virtualisation * Applications * Components * Infrastructure * Cloud Blogs * Rupert's Diary * Karen Friar * David Meyer * Charles McLellan * Tom Espiner * Ben Woods * Jack Clark * First Take * Manek Dubash * Jake Rayson * Jack Schofield * Simon Bisson * Mary Branscombe * Lucy Sherriff Resources * Jobs * White Papers * Downloads * Videos * RSS * ZDNet UK Mobile * ZDNet UK iPhone App * ZDNet UK Android App About Us * Content archive * Contact * Meet the team * Terms of use * Privacy Policy (UPDATED) * Ad Choice * Cookies * Advertise * Permissions and reprints Member Services * Newsletters * Membership benefits * Register * Manage your account * Community FAQ Special Features * Broadband Speed Test Advertising Features * VMWare resource centre * Dell my first storage resource centre * Avecto resource centre * HP BSM 9.0 resource centre * Seagate resource centre * Windows 7 Migration resource centre * Neverfail resource centre * Star resource centre * Storage solutions resource centre * Vulnerability management resource centre Copyright © 1998-2011 CBS Interactive, a CBS Company. All rights reserved ver 6.0.13402M