Tax website shut down as memory stick with secret personal data of 12million is found in a pub car park

[Juha-Matti Laurio <juha-matti.laurio () netti fi>]

"Ministers have been forced to order an emergency shutdown of a key Government computer system to protect millions of 
people's private details.

The action was taken after a memory stick was found in a pub car park containing confidential passcodes to the online 
Government Gateway system,
which covers everything from tax returns to parking tickets.

An urgent investigation is now under way into how the stick, belonging to the company which runs the flagship system, 
came to be lost.

The lost memory stick was found two weeks ago outside a Brewers Fayre chain pub in Cannock, Staffordshire, but the 
Department of Work and Pensions,
which owns the Government Gateway, was made aware of its loss only last week when the 2in device was passed to this 
newspaper.

An expert who examined it for The Mail on Sunday said it contained confidential passwords, security software and the 
technical blueprint to the system known as the 'source code'.
The memory stick is now in the hands of the police."
--clip--

More at
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1082402/Tax-website-shut-memory-stick-secret-personal-data-12million-pub-car-park.html

The title is misleading, however, there was no passwords of 12million users included.

References:
Which (UK) government services are available online?
http://www.gateway.gov.uk/Help/0/Content/CONTENT_ID=2639509.html

Atos Origin United Kingdom:
http://www.atosorigin.co.uk/

Juha-Matti
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