gHacks technology news » gordon brown http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:14:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Another USB Stick With Important Data Lost In The UK http://www.ghacks.net/2008/11/03/another-usb-stick-with-important-data-lost-in-the-uk/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/11/03/another-usb-stick-with-important-data-lost-in-the-uk/#comments Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:55:41 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=8033 Living in the United Kingdom has one major downside which became apparent in the last years. The government likes to collect all sorts of data about their citizens but seems incapable of securing that data. Laptops, USB sticks and other data sources get lost regularly and reveal important information about British citizens to its finders.

The last incident came to light this Sunday. The Times Online is reporting that an USB Stick was found outside a Brewers Fayre chain pub in Cannock, Staffordshire which contained confidential passwords, security software and the source code of the Government Gateway. The data on the stick could be used to access the personal details of more than 12 million individuals who registered on the system including names, addresses, national insurance numbers, credit card information or passwords.

The system had been shut down shortly after the USB stick was found (again) to protect the data of the citizens. According to government officials the system has not been breached by then. Even more pressing than the discovery of the data on the stick is the source code which could be used to exploit the system to a much larger extent.

Investigations are in full swing and should reveal additional information soon. Gordon Brown commented on the incident with the words: “It is important to recognize we cannot promise that every single item of information will always be safe because mistakes are made by human beings.”

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