Government and Data Security - Groundhog Day

25 million personal records lost by HMRC; 7600 driver records lost by the DVA of Northern Ireland; 3 million UK learner driver records go missing in Iowa. In certain areas of government it probably feels like Groundhog Day, where you keep reliving the same day over and over again.

Much has been written on the topic across the media but, for the most pertinent observations on security, there are times when only Dilbert will do.

Information security is a topic we have addressed frequently in this blog and it is something that every organisation needs to be vigilant about all the time. Arguably, Microsoft learned this the hard way and the Trustworthy Computing programme is our way of articulating that it takes more than technology to be secure. I vowed never to use the word 'holistic' in this blog so I won't. Instead I encourage you to take a look at the Trustworthy Computing web where there is an interesting news story on Securing Microsoft: A Long Road. There are lessons for all organisations in understanding the journey that Microsoft has been through to improve our own and our customers' information security.

Posted by Ian