Breach of security - HM Revenue

itsnever2lateisit?

silvercar wrote: »

So I warn my son not to put his 18th birthday details on facebook and the government gives his DOB out instead!

Be prepared for a lot of partygoers on you doorstep;)

ZTD

ispartacus75 wrote: »

The trouble is there is no point in changing your bank account details as you are only going to have to ring up the govt again and give the new bank details to the same people that mailed out the last lot to god only knows who.

But at least they'll be secret for the time it takes them to screw up again - and then you can change them again, and so on.

If they give out your biometric data, then that's it - game over.

HBFS

A friend of mine works for them. In his words "I'm surprised it took this long"

Dumb_Blonde_3

I'm not computer expert but is it really possible to put 25 MILLION peoples details on just 2 CD's ??????? - what sort of memory must they have ?????

HBFS

Dumb_Blonde wrote: »

I'm not computer expert but is it really possible to put 25 MILLION peoples details on just 2 CD's ??????? - what sort of memory must they have ?????

In fairness, they're probably CD-DVD's, like the Xbox and PS3 CD games. Able to have far more than a usual CD on them.

ZTD

HBFS wrote: »

In fairness, they're probably CD-DVD's, like the Xbox and PS3 CD games. Able to have far more than a usual CD on them.

Also compression. Though why the Government isn't all networked together is a question that needs asking. It'll not be hard...

Kevicho

Dumb_Blonde wrote: »

I'm not computer expert but is it really possible to put 25 MILLION peoples details on just 2 CD's ??????? - what sort of memory must they have ?????

I doubt they use microsoft products for this, usually much more space saving with unix

With any luck the data will have been encrypted.

Knowing this government and the fact that most governmental services in the past 10 years have been allowed to rot, i doubt that encryption is on.

Its all well and good blaming a "Junior" for this, but why did they have access to this in the first place.

In any company ive worked for, permissions are set to disable exporting of data for all but the most competant people (ie just me, certainly not the management lol)

HBFS

ZTD wrote: »

Also compression. Though why the Government isn't all networked together is a question that needs asking. It'll not be hard...

Because that would lose countless IT monkey jobs. Thusly why it's never happened. A Govt IT department is like a dodgy mechanic! "Ooooh *sucks air through teeth* Wireless network? Won't happen. Too many waves in the air, it'll get stuck!"

Kevicho

HBFS wrote: »

Because that would lose countless IT monkey jobs. Thusly why it's never happened. A Govt IT department is like a dodgy mechanic! "Ooooh *sucks air through teeth* Wireless network? Won't happen. Too many waves in the air, it'll get stuck!"

I think thats a bit unfair, most of the IT problems are caused by management and governments policies, made by people who clearly dont have a clue.

No need to blame the guys on the front line lol

ZTD

Kevicho wrote: »

I doubt they use microsoft products for this, usually much more space saving with unix

I wouldn't have liked to have been so sure.

Kevicho wrote: »

With any luck the data will have been encrypted.

They said it was, but given the fact it's disappeared, and the Government's propensity for retcons, I wouldn't like to be so sure about that either.

Kevicho wrote: »

Knowing this government and the fact that most governmental services in the past 10 years have been allowed to rot, i doubt that encryption is on.

It might be ROT26 encryption.

Kevicho wrote: »

Its all well and good blaming a "Junior" for this, but why did they have access to this in the first place.

Probably because no one could be bothered, and the "Junior" wasn't senior enough to get out of doing it.

Kevicho wrote: »

In any company ive worked for, permissions are set to disable exporting of data for all but the most competant people (ie just me, certainly not the management lol)

I hope you make the process so obscure that when they *demand* the access rights, it's still too hard...