Originally posted by TonyEnglish
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They are at it again
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7138408.stm
Thousands of driver details lost
The drivers' details were on two discs
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Northern Ireland has lost the personal details of 6,000 people.
The data was on two discs and went missing after being sent to the agency's headquarters in Swansea.
The DVA said the data was being provided in response to a safety recall by a number of manufacturers.
The head of the agency said the information was not encrypted. It included details of 7,685 vehicles and more than 6,000 vehicle keepers.
The data includes the keeper's name, address, registration mark of the vehicle, chassis number, make and colour.
It wasn't encrypted - this was one of the problems we had identified through our review, that this was an actual weakness
Brendan Magee
DVA chief executive
However, the DVA said no personal financial data was involved.
"Letters have been sent to all registered keepers of vehicles involved," it said.
Brendan Magee, chief executive of the Driver and Vehicle Agency said: "We are deeply disappointed and I can understand why customers would be concerned."
"This was information in response to a safety recall from a number of manufacturers."
Government agencies
He added: "We were undertaking a review of how we transmit all this information. We completed that review last week.
"Unfortunately, this incident had taken place before we completed the review and we deeply regret it and we regret the embarrassment we caused to the customers.
"It wasn't encrypted. This was one of the problems we had identified through our review, that this was an actual weakness. We are now looking at alternative methods of transporting this information."
Louise McElheron, one of those affected by the latest incident, said: "We have to provide our details to these government agencies to get child benefit and register cars.
It is the second major blunder involving lost government data
"We're trusting that they will treat our data with respect. And really we're victim to lax procedures, careless individuals or at worst dishonesty."
She added: "So it is sad that there's a sense of inevitability about it all."
It is the second major blunder involving lost government data in recent weeks.
Last month, two discs containing the personal details of 25 million people were lost after HM Revenue and Customs sent them unregistered and unencrypted.
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Now if I wanted to clone a car, would I
a - drive around in the hope that I spot the make and model I want, follow it home and then steal it
b - search my little database of cars to find all those which match, and then use my satnav to find them based on the postcode of the owner.
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