'Significant progress' in data security

Friday, January 15, 2010

A new report on the government's information risk has claimed there has been a "culture change in the way that we value and handle personal data".

The report, a follow on from the Data Handling Review (DHR) – published in June 2008, has set out how the government has secured personal data since the spate of data losses experienced after HM Revenue and Customs lost 25 million child benefit records. The DHR put in place a set of mandatory measures for departments to improve the way they handle personal data.

"We have tightened processes and enhanced the skills of public sector staff that handle personal data with well over 450,000 civil servants trained in data security awareness since the publication of the DHR," the report said.

According to the report, the new measures have helped achieve a level of "unparalleled transparency and scrutiny".

"Strict monitoring and compliance regimes mean that losses and near misses are more reliably reported allowing the lessons to be learnt, and help make sure that they do not happen again," it added.

A survey of parts of the civil service also revealed that 93 per cent of those surveyed were aware of data security policies and put them into practice.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell said: "Changing data handling culture remains the greatest challenge – not just for government, but for every sector. In the past it had become too easy to think that a tiny memory stick was not something that needed to be particularly protected. But when it contains names, dates of birth, financial details and other important and personal information then its value increases significantly; changing a seemingly minor and replaceable piece of technology into a very valuable commodity which must be treated accordingly. The ease and speed with which we can now move significant amounts of data around should not obscure just how important that data is for the individual who has entrusted it to government."

He added: "Smarter, more efficient and convenient public services depend on the right information being available, reliable, and well protected. It is therefore a necessity that we make sure that the risks to this information are properly managed."