NHS top culprit as UK data breaches exceed 1,000

[security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>]

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/compliance/2010/06/01/nhs-top-culprit-as-uk-data-breaches-exceed-1000-40089098/

NHS top culprit as UK data breaches exceed 1,000
By Matthew Broersma, ZDNet UK, 1 June, 2010 17:01

NEWS

More than 1,000 security breaches involving the loss of personal data have 
now been reported to the Information Commissioner's Office, with the list 
topped by the NHS, the privacy watchdog said on Friday.

The NHS has reported 305 breaches since November 2007, according to the 
Information Commissioner's Office's (ICO) figures. Of those, 116 were due 
to stolen data or hardware, 87 were due to lost data or hardware and 43 
cases were disclosures due to error, the ICO said.

The private sector collectively accounted for 288 breaches reported, while 
local government accounted for 305 cases. Central government has reported 
132 breaches, while the voluntary sector has reported a total of 44 
breaches. A total of 1,007 breaches had been reported as of Friday.

In the past six months, the privacy watchdog has taken action against 14 
Department of Health organisations that have exposed private data.

The office said it has now written to the permanent secretary for the 
Department of Health, Hugh Taylor, to ask for tighter protection of 
personal records. It also intends to carry out unannounced visits to 
hospitals and other organisations to see how data is treated.

[..]
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