ID card fears as staff hack into Home Office database

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk>
Date: August 29, 2006 10:47:08 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: ID card fears as staff hack into Home Office database

Dave:

Here's an article from the (London) Evening Standard that you might  
want to pass on to IP.

Cheers

Brian

-----
ID card fears as staff hack into Home Office database

Office staff are hacking into the department's computers, putting at  
risk the privacy of 40million people in Britain. The revelation  
undermines Government claims that sensitive information being  
collected for its controversial ID Cards scheme could not fall into  
criminal hands. The security breaches occurred at the Identity and  
Passport Service, which is setting up the National Identity Register  
to provide access to individuals' health, financial and police  
records as part of the £8billion ID card scheme scheduled to begin in  
2008. MPs and technology experts have expressed fears that the  
national register, which will store sensitive details of more than  
40million people, will be a honeypot for hackers and identity  
thieves. . . . A Home Office spokesman last night confirmed the IPS  
security breaches. He also confirmed that three staff involved had  
been sacked and a fourth had resigned before disciplinary procedures  
had concluded. . .

Full article at:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23364764-details/ID+card 
+fears+as+staff+hack+into+Home+Office+database/article.do
--
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/


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