Tell me this isn't a government operation
Posted on 12/17/2007 8:43:11 PM PST by bruinbirdman
The records of more than three million British learner drivers have gone missing from a “secure facility” in the US, an embarrassed Government admitted last night.
Labour’s dismal autumn hit another low as, minutes after ministers admitted that they still did not know the whereabouts of two discs holding sensitive information on 25 million people, they were forced to confess they had lost the details of all candidates for the driving theory test between 2004 and 2007.
Opposition politicians raised questions last night over whether the Government could safely go ahead with plans to place the records of 50 million health service patients on an electronic database, its “spy-in-the-sky” scheme to monitor every journey by 33 million vehicles, and national ID cards.
The latest security breach came as The Times has learnt that ministers are toughening sanctions against the wilful abuse of data — making it an offence punishable by a two-year prison sentence rather than a fine.
The driving test records from September 2004 to April 2007 have gone missing from a facility in Iowa City, Iowa.
Names, addresses and phone numbers — but not financial data — were among the details on a computer hard disc that was found to have disappeared in May.
They were at the site of Pearson Driving Assessments, a private contractor to the Driving Standards Agency that designs the software for the theory test, administers the test, books people in for it, and then keeps their records. The company performed this task from Minnesota, then sent the disc containing all the records by secure courier to its facility in Iowa.
It was booked as having arrived but when staff looked for it in May they could not find it and alerted the agency.
Government officials insisted last night that the breach was of a minor order compared with recent ones and said that most of the information would be available in the telephone book.
Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, who told the Commons about the breach on its penultimate day before the recess, was told only on November 28 after a data audit she had requested in her department.
The Times has been told that the agency informed Stephen Ladyman, a former junior transport minister, last June and Pearson was asked to carry out a full review of its security arrangements. Ms Kelly reported it to the Information Commissioner and he had judged the risks presented by the loss were not “substantial” as the details did not include bank account details, national insurance numbers, driving licence numbers, dates of birth, a copy of the signature or the result of the test.
The Transport Secretary also said that the disc was “formatted specifically to fit Pearson configuration” and was not easily read by third parties.
Because banking details were not included in the lost data, individuals are not being informed, she said.
But Ms Kelly apologised for anyone for any “uncertainty or concern” caused. An advice line has been set up by the agency.
Theresa Villiers, the Shadow Transport Secretary, said that the Government was failing in its duty to obey its own laws on data security and called it further evidence of a “systemic failure” in handling private data.
Ms Kelly’s surprise statement came after Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, told MPs that there was little progress in the inquiry into the loss of the two child benefit discs, despite widespread police searches and the offer of a £20,000 reward for their return.
Mr Darling said that the police had no intelligence of data falling into “the wrong hands” and banks had “no evidence of any activities suggesting evidence of fraud”.
Mr Darling said that Kieran Poynter, the PricewaterhouseCoopers chairman appointed to lead the investigation into the incident, “says his work is far from complete and his conclusions will develop as his work progresses”.
Philip Hammond, for the Conservatives, said that it had been “the most catastrophic data security breach in British history” and criticised Mr Darling’s early explanation that a junior official who had not followed the rules was responsible.
“Responsibility for systemic failure does not lie with junior staff — it lies at the very top,” he said.
“In the face of the overwhelming scale of systemic failure, this statement can only be described as a wholly inadequate response from a wholly inadequate chancellor.” Meanwhile, an efficiency review of Revenue & Customs found that “the senior leadership has not been successful in injecting pace, confidence and dynamism throughout the department”.
The top team “has more to do to demonstrate that it can take the tough decisions required to set priorities and to bring about organisational clarity”. It also needed “a robust plan” to resolve staff “uncertainty” and be clear about what Revenue & Customs would look like in the future.
On another inauspicious day for No 10 and No 11, a similar review of the Treasury found that the department commanded by Mr Darling and for ten years by Mr Brown could improve its “outcomes” if it acted with “greater humility” and in a more open and inclusive way.
Sooooo, what’s the US doing with secure files from the UK?
Pearson Driving Assessments Limited, Iowa City, Iowa is a worldwide data center.
I would assume they are working on setting up a system for the insurance agencies.
...for the driving theory test between 2004 and 2007.
WTF is “driving theory?”
It’s seems to be a subset of the Force. No hands or alert vision is required when one becomes a master.
That's what you have to learn to take the written test with the multiple choice answers. As opposed to the actual on-the-road skills test. What do you call it?
It's standard procedure for disaster mitigation to move files for secure storage to a location where any disaster that affects the main storage location won't affect the back-up. A lot of U.S. data is stored in India.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/LearnerAndNewDrivers/TheoryTest/DG_4022534
If you've never surfed the UK government, it is a kick. Everything is explained for a sixth grader, even the laws.
yitbos
yitbos
I guess they’ve never heard about encrypting disks. That way if they’re lost, it’s rather unlikely anyone would ever be able to read the information on them.
These guys don't have backup for much data, including their pension system, health care which they have already admitted to being lost.
It appears to be the old socialist trick: The dog ate the data. We will have to estimate how much you contributed to your pension and the National Health System. Now, how much is in the UK budget this year?
yitbos
A lot of U.S. data is stored in India where it can be lost just as easily as this data was in Iowa and we don’t care. Let the police state continue to collect more personal data and roll it all into one worldwide database.
Those who sacrifice personal liberty for the sake of security will end up with neither.
Expect to see 12 million illegals with British licenses soon on a street near you.
Tell me this isn't a government operation
WHAT?
I know the UK has an unimplemented, as yet, scheme to have everyone who owns a vehicle report the mileage driven per annum for tax purposes.
yitbos
I have them. I’m going to change all the answers and send them back so that they can start driving on the right damn side of the road.
for those who don’t know, getting a driver’s license in the UK is a genuine challenge, with an abusively anal test about rear view mirror glances and all kinds of other things, and even a built-in failing of passing drivers in order to meet some goal of the group administering the test (or did they fix that).
Compare getting it to the difficulty in getting a 2-year degree in the US. I was confused about this when a friend from Scotland talked about ‘taking the class’ for a license, but later I came to understand.
“WHAT?
“
this is in fact a real plan.
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