http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7103566.stm

This time I have no words to describe their stupidity.

I remember some news from Belgium where the government put a PC outside (or sold it, can't remember exactly), just to get rid of it. So somebody took it and all data was still on there =).
People make errors...
If there is 1 thing I would never do in life then it is sending sentitive stuff via mail.

This is unacceptable, people indeed make mistakes, but then policies should be in place, to prevent an minimize these types of disclosures. The personal drama this will cause if it falls in the wrong hands. And that is bad enough if it happens in a few weeks, but even worse if they hang on to the data silently for a while. in a few months people forget. And there is somebody who has power over 25 million brits.

- The data should have been encrypted,
- It makes no sense to send this data through the post. while there is an internet. vpn/ssl pki.
the disks were lost somewhere around 15/10 it took weeks before they became suspicious .

Horrible fault detection, poor indentification, worse fault recovery. Everybody who has never been confronted with identity theft will have this. So what does it matter? Who would want to know this anyway? Let me put it this way: Everybody. If you have these two cd's you are an instantaneous millionaire. The personal dramas this can create are immense.

25.000.000 people, including bank details were relevant. That's 50% of the people on that island. It seriously makes me want to stab people. Privacy is a human right. this carelessness is unforgivable.

there really is no reason to downplay this. Not even if dutch secret service has left laptops in rental cars, and usb sticks in trains. These proportions are so surreal.

Encryptions works, they cracked the enigma machine during the world war, you would assume they have some expertise in this field. And yet they dump 25.000.000 people's data, to two cd's and send them out the door. That's just too wrong for words; I know you guys always have this "bah it isn't that bad". but if this isn't gigantic then what is? You assume it doesn't affect you, so it doesn't matter that much. because "you have nothing to hide" probably. That's a slippery slope, a few steps down that path, and you don't need to worry about global warming.

And in case you don't know, the british don't have ID cards, if you go to a bank, state your name and account number and that you lost your card, they don't really have a reason to refuse your request.

http://www.identity-theft-faq.com/2007/11/identity-theft-the-internet-and-your-identity/

yes i forgot to mention that it's not just the money you own that gets stolen, there is nothing stopping them from taking out a loan in your name, or other nasty stuff.

having been a victim of identity fraud in the past (and i use the term "victim" very shamefully) i have to agree with rhican on that. they got away with an unsecured loan of almost £8000, and that wasn't all. had police and court proceedings and everything - was rather unpleasant if i have to say so myself...

Doesn't it say "Two password protected discs"?
But judging from the news I can guess that the encryption method is relatively weak and can be cracked with some effort.
Now I understand why Caesum has been inactive recently