outsourced data for sale UK

[Henry Brown <brownhenrya () gmail com>]

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2251647/offshore-risk
[...]

An ITV news investigation has exposed the risk of offshoring data abroad 
and putting personal information into the hands of unsecured third parties.

Last night's Tonight programme investigated the sale of British medical 
records held offshore, in this case in India. ITV reporter Chris Rogers 
was able to find criminals who were prepared to sell supposedly 
confidential and private medical and financial records.

According to one insider, name and address data could be bought for as 
little as 50p, while credit card information is "five bucks" and credit 
history is "20 bucks".

Once the data is gathered, often just from call centre workers, it is 
sold to companies and individuals looking to use it for direct marketing 
and cross selling. The programme described the scale of the problem as 
alarming.

The thousands of files bought by Rogers included up-to-date and accurate 
medical information. One victim said that he was "angry" about the 
disclosure, adding that the information was "very, very private".

[...]

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