No progress on govt data security
Monday, 12 January 2009 3:45 PM
By Ian Dunt
A freedom of information request has shown a failure across government departments to reform data security arrangements, despite losing 30 million personal files in two years.
A Cabinet Office report recommending that data be encrypted before being copied to any devices that can be removed from the office, such as laptops, discs and memory sticks, appears to have been largely ignored.
Staff are still able to copy unencrypted information from internal databases to external devices, especially in the Department of Health and the Department for Transport.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Ministry of Justice both have the capacity to transfer encrypted information but it is unclear whether the policy is actually enforced.
The freedom of information request, which was submitted by Lewis PR and published in the Financial Times, shows the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform is one of the few to ensure encryption takes place.
The government has been struggling under negative headlines concerning data security since it lost 25 million personal records in 2007.
Critics say its failure to protect personal information indicates the government is unable to guarantee the safety of its ID cards scheme.
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