http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7103566.stm

Nice to know my personal details are out there somewhere

The Government have known about this for days

Oh my - hope it isn't in the 'wrong' hands!!!  Very worrying!

Yes, just heard this on the radio...an interesting point was made...if they can lose this information then do we really trust the goverment with the introduction of i.d. cards? :(

Yes, very worrying, trouble is none of us will know until it is too late, if these details have fallen into the wrong hands and our bank accounts are broken into many of us are going to have a very unhappy Christmas, could our childrens ID's etc be used to bring illegals in and for child traffickers to bring children here? Not sure if I am jumping the gun with that statement as not sure exactly what they have had go missing, but the whole thing is very worrying, and I for one want to know what details of mine they could possibly have.

They did interview someone on the radio who had had his account emptied.  Someone had phoned up not knowing his password (can never remember mine!!) and had given personal details like date of birth etc and had been excepted as genuine.  That person thought that they had had details from some source such as child benefit.  The bank refunded him his money.  All banks should be on the alert now - but what about the future?  Online accounts are harder to get into unless you have an obvious password - like the name or date of birth of your child.  My bank now not only has a pass number but I have a little machine that I have to put my card into and identify myself with my pin code which then gives me a code number to type in.  - a pinsentry machine.  Apparently they are more common on the continent.  Heaven knows what happens if the batteries fail!   I can't believe how casual someone has been with such important information - there is no sense to it and it is extremely worrying.

Yes, just heard this on the radio...an interesting point was made...if they can lose this information then do we really trust the goverment with the introduction of i.d. cards? 
Or is it all just a cunning plan by the government to use the info. anyway?!?  da da daaaaaaaaaaaaah....
have less and less faith in the government and it's systems as the days go by:rolleyes:

It was also unclear just who it affects.  One statement said children of school age.  Another said all children receiving child benefit.  My husband understood it was historical records too.  Someone ought to be upfront and say just who this concerns.

It may take ages to find out if someone has tried to use our details to get credit, until you try and get credit and get refused.
Mary

I see that the Head of Inland Revenue & Customs has "fallen on his sword" and resigned.....hope he's forfeited all his pension rights etc etc etc!

I'm angry enough at having "loaned" approximately £2,000 of "my" money to Northern Rock ....especially as they wouldn't contemplate giving me a mortgage when I really could have done with changing mortgages some time ago.........

I want my money back NOW!!

Margot

All very well for the 'Head of IRC' to fall on his sword and resign, but what about the rest of the incompetants who were involved?  He didn't actually send these CD's out himself did he?  About time those actually responsible for this to also be sacked/resign.  This is an unbelievable level of incompetance, irresponsibility and stupidity.

You will probably find the person was a temp :rolleyes:

They have got rid of many thousands of jobs and now will have a bank of temps in to take the slack. Doesn't show as an overhead just an expense :rolleyes:

Just heard on the news that the discs were sent 3 times.  Does anyone know what they mean by this?  ie, were they sent a total of 3 separate occasions over a period of time or was it because the documents were requested by the NAO and the original disc never arrived, so 2 further discs were apparently sent, again never arriving?

If you work within departments where you have access to this type of information you have to be security cleared and as part of that you have briefings on what you are allowed to do / not do with this type of information.  In theory the person who was responsible for sending out the disks should have known exactly what procedures they should be following.  The manager responsible should at least be facing the sack for this, possibly even prosecution.

The other thing I don't understand about all of this is why the NAO needed all this data, what possible use can they have for all the names, addresses and bank details for everyone claiming child benefit.

The best thing about it all is that the information wasn't even encrypted. If anyone guesses the password they have access to everything. "And the special award for amazing cleverness goes to...." :rolleyes:

I've had problems with the inland revenue before- threatening letters when I've already paid up etc. Same with the TV licence. I think that these government departments get away with so much- if any one in the private sector bungled like this there would be a major clampdown and people would change company. Unfortunately we all have to use the IRS. (I'm not advocating privatising the IRS by the way... We've got enough to worry about with them trying to privatise the NHS through the back door... grumble grumble)

Don't talk about TV license.  My daughter (different surname) bouthg a TV and I keep getting demands for a TV license.  I have had one for years, surely they can see that there is one for this address.

Advice from the banking industry today on the Jeremy Vine show: If you think that your data could be involved, change your bank password if you use partner or childs name or any combination of them. Both may be included in this 'missing data'.