Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, has announced that enforcement action is to be taken against HMRC and the MOD following recent serious data breaches.

He stated that the reports published on 25 June show “deplorable failures at both HMRC and MOD. Information security and other aspects of data protection must be taken a great deal more seriously by those in charge of organisations. No chief executive can now say that data protection doesn’t matter.”

The Information Commissioner’s office is to serve formal Enforcement Notices on HMRC and the MOD. Compliance with the terms of the Notices will require HMRC and the MOD to implement all of the recommendations outlined in the reports and progress reports will be required after 12, 24 and 36 months documenting in detail how the recommendations have been, or are being, implemented to improve Data Protection compliance. Failure to comply with an Enforcement Notice is a criminal offence.

Further information:
HMRC and MOD data security breaches

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Written by Ian Congreave -

Filed under: Information Security on July 7th, 2008

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