Cyber-Ark Warns Firms to Encrypt Following More UK CD-ROM Database Woes

Cyber-Ark has warned organisations of the need to constantly review their data protection procedures as news of another pair of CD-ROMs going walkabout from a UK government agency emerged recently. “The News of the World has revealed that a former contractor for the Department for Work and Pensions had two CD-ROMs containing details of thousands of benefit claimants in her possession for more than a year,” said Calum Macleod, European Director with Cyber-Ark. “Coming so soon after the HMRC CD-ROM Fiasco, this highlights several errors of procedure within a number of government departments. It also highlights the need for all organizations, whether public or private sector, to control who has access to their data encrypt their company and client databases,” he added. The Department for Work and Pension CD-ROMs – which reportedly contained the names, addresses, DoB and NI numbers of up to 18,000 claimants – languished in the former contractor’s possession after she left the government agency and forgot to return the disks.

Comments are closed.