Spy Review

Just a couple of months after a major blunder that resulted in disks containing millions of child benefit records being lost by the HM Revenue Customs, the careless way organisations handle personal data still persists. The Ministry of Defence has now lost a laptop containing as many as 600,000 personal records. There has also been many other losses in between which have not been as high profile as these cases because they either involved records of small number of people or the records lost were not deemed as serious as these more higher profile cases.

Of course, the seriousness of these cases will depend a lot on what type of data they contain; in the case of HMRC, it was very serious as it contained information that could be used to infiltrate bank accounts. The data loss by MoD - though a lot fewer in number - is equally significant because it contained bank details, addresses, passport information, social security numbers, etc.

These blunders are not to be taken lightly because if the data fall in criminal hands, which it is believed to have been the case in the latter, they have the capacity to purge and manipulate the data to commit fraud.

The only positive assurance we had been given over the HMRC debacle is that there is no evidence the records were been stolen and banks have assured people that there has not been any anomaly as yet.

What can you do if you believe or are certain that your records have been compromised:

• Contact the organisation which held the data that was responsible for losing the information to ascertain whether your personal data may have been compromised.
• If you believe your records have been stolen inform your bank immediately.
• Make sure you check your bank statements right away, and regularly if you feel your data may be at risk.
• Contact credit card companies and all other financial institutions that you deal with.
• Inform credit rating agencies.

Finally, see if there is any legal recourse available in the event data has indeed fallen in the wrong hands and you have been a victim of fraud. Of course, if your personal data had been compromised then there should be some legal recourse available.

If you do suffer monetary losses, the organisation responsible for leaking will likely need to compensate for those losses, in most cases financial losses are guaranteed. That still does not fully compensate for your personal data falling in the hands of a criminal, however.