Justin Harper reports: The recession has led to a surge in financial fraud with identity theft up by almost a third, latest industry figures have revealed. A worrying trend is emerging where criminals take over the running of your bank account and transfer funds into an account they have set up to accept these bogus…
Category: Non-U.S.
UK: ATL agrees to improve information security after thousands of union members’ personal details are stolen
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has found the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) in breach of the Data Protection Act after a laptop and memory stick were reported lost or stolen, containing the personal details of over 6,000 union members. The laptop was the property of the ATL and contained the personal details of…
UK: Security company axed after leak of MPs’ expenses files
Jason Lewis reports: A security firm responsible for guarding some of Britain’s most sensitive Government documents, including the two Iraq War dossiers, has been axed following the damaging leak of the MPs’ expenses files. The move comes after a long-running internal investigation into who released the damaging material which led to Ministerial resignations and a…
Informant offers to sell names of tax dodgers (updated)
A secret informant has offered to sell the German taxman the names of 1,500 Germans who have funds hidden in Switzerland, a newspaper reported Saturday. The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said the unnamed whistleblower had supplied details of five accounts worth some €1 million ($1.4 million) in tax as proof and demanded €2.5 million for…
UK: Skipton faces fine for serious data breach
Jeff Prestridge reports: Skipton Building Society faces a heavy fine from the Financial Services Authority after a serious breach of data security procedures that resulted in more than 3,000 savers receiving financial details about other customers of the mutual. […] When Skipton mailed 108,000 account statements to savers last weekend, 3,115 went out with the…
UK: Information safety fears as personal data is lost
Adam Morris and Michael Blackley report: Fresh fears have been raised over the protection of personal information after both the city council and NHS Lothian were hit by new “data loss” incidents. The Evening News has uncovered a series of cases where sensitive information has been lost or stolen in the past year. They range…