Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The frequency of one's personal data being so loosely taken care of is growing alarmingly fast these days. Then again, is it only now that such data is being mishandled, or has it been the case all along? Perhaps horror stories of mishandling of personal data have only recently emerged in the news owing to a growing awareness on the importance of privacy? If that was true, imagine the number of years gone by without our knowledge of the immensity of the abuse and mishandling of our personal data!
So what is the current horror report on personal data floating around?
Yes, this is one of the latest reports by the
BBC News concerning the commencement of an investigation into how a computer containing bank customers' personal data was sold on eBay.
According to the report, the computer was purchased by an IT manager for GBP77 and contained sensitive details of customers of three companies - including Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and its subsidiary Natwest, on its hard drive. Some of the details included customers' signatures, mothers' maiden names and mobile phone numbers.
Now, was this due to carelessness and negligence on the part of these banks? How did the computer get on the eBay market for sale? All will be revealed after the investigation, I suppose.
However, it surely does not look good for these banks to have made such a blunder - since security and protection of personal data is of utmost importance and this is a duty that should never have been shirked in the first place.