Upcoming Events :
Housing Seminar: Partnerships with the Public Sector – Avoiding the pitfalls
Thu 31 May 2012
Minerva House, 5 Montague Close, London, SE1 9BB
Financial providers in data security blunders
Fri 27 Aug 2010
The issue of data security has been under scrutiny again following two recent losses of customer data.
An unencrypted laptop computer owned by Yorkshire Building Society that contained sensitive data was stolen earlier this year.
The passwords to access information on the computer had been written down and stored with the computer.
Although the laptop was later recovered, the Information Commissioner's Office concluded that this represented a breach of the Data Protection Act.
Mick Gorrell, head of enforcement at the ICO, described the incident as "extremely concerning".
However, he welcomed the building society's subsequent moves to tighten up its data security procedures, which include making sure all its computers are password-protected.
This comes shortly after the Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined Zurich Insurance more than £2.2 million for losing customer details two years ago.
The regulator said the company had "let its customers down badly" after information relating to 46,000 people, including bank account details, was lost.
Winckworth Sherwood have a team of specialist lawyers who regularly advise both public and private sector organisations on dealing with breaches, data protection audits and all matters relating to the Data Protection Act, including compliance with the eight data protection principles .
