UK Companies Not Protecting Data

Britain’s Information Commissioner says companies and public bodies need to do more to protect data.

Last year 94 security breaches, where data was leaked, were reported to Britain’s Information Commissioner, the man charged with looking after data privacy.It was, he said, an “alarming” number. The data was recovered in only three cases.   Now he’s issued a call for all companies and all public bodies to make data protection anoverriding priority.   His stance was bolstered by a survey of 1,000 companies by Price Waterhouse Coopers that reveals around 90% of them allow employees toleave the office with data – some of it potentially private, on USB data sticks. 80% said that stolen computers had contained unencrypted data.   Information Commissioner Richard Thomassaid,   “The government, banks and other organisations need to regain the public’s trust by being far more careful with people’s personal information. Once again I urge business and publicsector leaders to make data protection a priority in their organisation."   The vast majority of reported security breaches came in the public sector, 62 of them, with 28 in the privatesector. Interestingly, even as data security has become a high-profile issue in the UK, the survey shows that fewer companies are encrypting data on laptops than did two years ago.   The reportadded that breaches in security cost British businesses several billion pounds every year.