Government Technology

71 Percent of U.K. Worried About Data Security and Mobile Access


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February 7, 2008 By

A survey conducted by IT security and control firm Sophos has revealed that 71 percent of U.K. people believe their local authorities should prevent staff from accessing confidential data about citizens via laptops, blackberries or other mobile devices when they are working away from the office, to ensure that the information does not fall into the hands of an opportunistic thief or hacker.

The results come in light of a number of local authority blunders involving the loss of confidential data. In 2007, Newcastle City Council admitted to losing the payment card details of 54,000 local residents -- information which was held on an unsecured server, and accessed by a computer outside of the UK. A number of government bodies, including the Ministry of Defence and the HMRC, have also disclosed data breaches - stolen laptops or misplaced CDs -- and the public is now voicing its concerns.

Given the need for more flexible working environments, organizations must properly secure portable devices just as they would the internal network. Hard drives containing work-related information need to be fully encrypted, and non-work related applications such as VoIP and IM, which could be exploited by hackers, should be blocked.

While a Whitehall-wide ban was imposed earlier this week to halt the movement of unencrypted data to and from central government departments, no such regulations have been introduced at local government level.

"It's clear from our research that the British public has little faith in their local authorities' ability to secure confidential information," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos. "If organizations need to give employees access to work files, a tight security strategy must become a crucial part of the public sector's IT infrastructure. Government bodies need to better educate their staff on safe computing practices, and subsequently reinforce this message to its constituents."


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