Banks take great care in telling customers how you should never record your PIN number on or near your ATM card. It's a message government staff in the UK should listen and heed. A health worker has lost a USB key containing the records of thousands of inmates from Preston Prison. The data was encrypted, but in an act of complete lunacy, the password was apparently 'attached' to the key as well.
The information was encrypted but a password to get around the security was also attached to the device.
The password was written on a note and attached to the key.
The staff member was from Central Lancashire Primary Care Trust, and has been suspended. The data included prisoner names, health information, cell location and prison number.
The prison service says there's no compromise to prison security, but predicatably the opposition party doesn't agree:
Shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert said: "It appears that the message about keeping data securely still hasn't sunk in within government. Those who recklessly lose data must be held accountable."
Comments