Don’t panic, it’s all in hand…

…other peoples hands! Yes, you guessed it. Just when the government thought we had forgotten about their apalling data security track record another hot potato pops up. An answer to parliamentry questions showed that 600HMRC staff have been disciplined for unnecessarily accessing data: 238 in 2005, 180 in 2006 and 192 in 2007. Staff are apparently bound by a strict policy only allows them to access your personal records if there is a business case. Judging by the figures it would appear that the policy has become elastic!

Crying into my soup.

HMRC has stated that it takes a very serious approach to breaches of data integrity. Each breach resulted in disciplinary action with the majority of cases resulting in dismissal - cool. They’ve looked at your personal data then they’re allowed to leave the building! I feel so much safer now. To be fair, these number pale in comparison to the loss of two data discs from HMRC. They only had the deatails of 25 million people on them!

Final though: Does anyone want to emigrate to New Zealand with me!!!

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