The curse of the Clown Government

[walesrob]

....It gets better....this time its a memory stick in a pub car park containing passwords, usernames for users of the Government Gateway - that will be quite a few million...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7704611.stm

[andypaul]

Cant wait for the central database for the ID card.

[joebloggs]

hows it brown's fault ? he might be guilty of other things,

but

Subcontractor Atos Origin, which lost the stick, said there had been a "direct breach" of its procedures.


fine, prosecute them and then never use them again

[andypaul]

hows it brown's fault ? he might be guilty of other things,

but

Subcontractor Atos Origin, which lost the stick, said there had been a "direct breach" of its procedures.


fine, prosecute them and then never use them again

Everything is Browns fault

Problem seems to be is there are only so many of these subcontractors. Once you ban one it will morph into a company which is acceptable somehow (name change, managment changed etc)

If you fine them then they will just get that money back of you.

[IainBusby]

[quote=walesrob;96453]....It gets better....this time its a memory stick in a pub car park containing passwords, usernames for users of the Government Gateway - that will be quite a few million...

"Subcontractor Atos Origin, which lost the stick, said there had been a "direct breach" of its procedures."

I don't think you can blame this government for most these breaches of data protection as nearly all of them relate to outside agencies or quangos. This farming out of work to outside agencies that really should have stayed strictly within government control, as most people will remember, was a process that was begun and championed by the Tory governments of Thatcher and Major and also became very widespread under those governments.

Now that were in this situation, all the government of the day can do is to try to get the best value for money on behalf of the taxpayer and make sure that an agency that fails to perform or breaches procedures laid down by the government, have their contracts terminated and are not allowed to tender for future government contracts.

I know that the internal government departments that went before these agencies were widely seen as extremely inefficient, but at least the average time serving, 9 to 5 civil servant wouldn't be caught dead taking work ( or data) home with him/her.
Iain.

[johncar54]

I am surprised that so many odd bods are allowed to take such sensitive data out of the workplace. When I was a police officer in London it was forbidden to take work home. If that rule was applied there would be less risk.

[andypaul]

[quote=IainBusby;96470]

....It gets better....this time its a memory stick in a pub car park containing passwords, usernames for users of the Government Gateway - that will be quite a few million...

"Subcontractor Atos Origin, which lost the stick, said there had been a "direct breach" of its procedures."

I don't think you can blame this government for most these breaches of data protection as nearly all of them relate to outside agencies or quangos. This farming out of work to outside agencies that really should have stayed strictly within government control, as most people will remember, was a process that was begun and championed by the Tory governments of Thatcher and Major and also became very widespread under those governments.

Now that were in this situation, all the government of the day can do is to try to get the best value for money on behalf of the taxpayer and make sure that an agency that fails to perform or breaches procedures laid down by the government, have their contracts terminated and are not allowed to tender for future government contracts.

I know that the internal government departments that went before these agencies were widely seen as extremely inefficient, but at least the average time serving, 9 to 5 civil servant wouldn't be caught dead taking work ( or data) home with him/her.
Iain.

Joke is many of the people working either for the goverment in the old days or for the new companies are probably the same people. As there are only so many people in each field.
Same with most companies and departments taken over. Most of the times its just the name, logo and a few managers which change.

[IainBusby]

[quote=andypaul;96475]

Joke is many of the people working either for the goverment in the old days or for the new companies are probably the same people. As there are only so many people in each field.
Same with most companies and departments taken over. Most of the times its just the name, logo and a few managers which change.

I agree, but to compete in this so called market place for lucrative government contracts, is the security of our data being compromised. We all hate paying higher taxes, but when it all comes down to choosing the lowest bidder instead of the best bid or the best way of doing things, I think that we have just got to accept that these things are going to happen. It all brings to mind one (to my my mind, very well deserved) description of the Tory party who started all this outsourcing, "they seem to know the cost of everything and the value of nothing"

Don't get me all wrong, I like many others, find myself very disillusioned with Gordon Brown and the Labour Party in general these days, but I think that anyone who thinks that Cameron and his bunch is the answer to our problems must have a very short memory.

Iain.

[baboyako]

you can blame procedures if you want, but any IT system that tries to be a little bit secure never stores passwords or indeed links identity to data on the same system anywhere.

this is an architectural issue, and for a company that has consulting revenues of over a billion a quarter should more embarrass them .

personally i have no problem with identity cards - i have a swiss one of course but you don't see stories in the paper about the whole database getting downloaded onto a memory stick

[andypaul]

you can blame procedures if you want, but any IT system that tries to be a little bit secure never stores passwords or indeed links identity to data on the same system anywhere.

this is an architectural issue, and for a company that has consulting revenues of over a billion a quarter should more embarrass them .

personally i have no problem with identity cards - i have a swiss one of course but you don't see stories in the paper about the whole database getting downloaded onto a memory stick

Out Isms bans such things as you say. With the swiss authorities they seem to keep their problems under their hats and close to them so you never know..

On another note.
I noticed on my Visits to that lovely place where you can walk in the snow on the mountians and relax in the sun by a lake a few miles away
For a neutral country they dont half seem to have it all prepared for War.
At least they did a few years back.

Is there something they know that we don't?

[baboyako]

if there's a war coming I'd be spending 2 days clearing all the crap out of our 14 person nuclear bunker

[andypaul]

if there's a war coming I'd be spending 2 days clearing all the crap out of our 14 person nuclear bunker

LOL

A waiter in a Hotel in a small villiage also said every male over a certain age was in the army and kept a gun at home Why not the navy i ask?

See the world with the Swiss Navy

[joebloggs]

I am surprised that so many odd bods are allowed to take such sensitive data out of the workplace. When I was a police officer in London it was forbidden to take work home. If that rule was applied there would be less risk.

your right there John, thats the same where i work, part of the company i work for wipe customers HDDs to military sanitization standards, the exit out of the building is locked and we are searched by a security guard everytime we leave, no chance of getting anything out

[andypaul]

I am surprised that so many odd bods are allowed to take such sensitive data out of the workplace. When I was a police officer in London it was forbidden to take work home. If that rule was applied there would be less risk.

Most is down to sheer laziness and wanting to "work from Home"

Im sure we have all heard about how one day we will all work from home blah blah.

One of the reasons surely people did all work in one place was down to these basic security principles. Dont let information go walkies.

The police are very good at forgetting procedure and leaving paperwork lying around from personal experience.
I had to wait in a Police canteen in a central London Police Station recently, I was au fait with much of the days work. As well as me were plenty of other outside guests in their for one reason or another. No wonder the press know so much.

I have also been left to wander around New scotland yard and other stations on numerous occasions and leaving with more items and documents than I entered with. Basically like the country they only check you on the way in

But generally private comapanies are hot on security and Goverment and council offices are years behind.

Strangely the Police are just to friendly and trusting when you meet them business wise.