英税务局丢失千万份个人保密资料
保罗·格雷已经宣布引咎辞职
英国儿童福利补贴都经过银行转账方式直接存入补助对象的账户,可是税务局电脑光盘内保存的一千五百万份补助人的个人资料却不见了踪影。
税务局说,包括儿童福利补助人姓名、地址和银行账户号码等保密资料应该不会落入不法分子的手中。
英国皇家税务及海关总署署长保罗·格雷已经宣布引咎辞职,称这是"税务部门重大的操作失误。"
英国财相达林也就此事在议会下议院发表声明。达林在声明中感谢保罗·格雷所作的工作。
他还保证资料被丢失的家庭不蒙受经济损失。
BBC政治事务编辑尼克·罗宾逊说,据他的了解,官员们最早在10天以前就已经知道此事。
英国反对党保守党的影子财相质问政府是否对资料遗失有应急计划,还对事件所设计的安全问题提出质疑。他还对财相本人的可信度提出质疑。
英国议会专责身份诈骗问题的跨党派小组负责人奈杰尔·伊文思说,他希望了解丢失的光盘上究竟有哪些资料,是不是有银行月结单,账号分理号码,光碟是否设了开启密码或者做了加密保护。
反对党保守党的议员还说,财相达林应该解释他为什么没有立即公开这一事件,说他应该在知情后立即告诉公众真相,以便他们能采取防范措施以免个人资料被诈骗分子利用。
不过,英国内政部官员说,税务总署所处理的是非常困难的工作。财政大臣将在声明中说明有关此事的详情。
在2005年,英国海关与税务局合并,成皇家税务及海关总署,成为英国政府内规模最大的部门。
- posted on 11/20/2007
UK's families put on fraud alert
The chancellor urged people to monitor their bank accounts
Alistair Darling
Two computer discs holding the personal details of all families in the UK with a child under 16 have gone missing.
The Child Benefit data on them includes name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number and, where relevant, bank details of 25m people.
Chancellor Alistair Darling said there was no evidence the data had gone to criminals - but urged people to monitor bank accounts "for unusual activity".
The Conservatives described the incident as a "catastrophic" failure.
CHILD BENEFIT HELPLINE
0845 302 1444
In an emergency statement to MPs, Mr Darling apologised for what he described as an "extremely serious failure on the part of HMRC to protect sensitive personal data entrusted to it in breach of its own guidelines".
MPs gasped as Mr Darling told them: "The missing information contains details of all Child Benefit recipients: records for 25 million individuals and 7.25 million families. "
The police are not aware of any evidence that it has been used for fraudulent purposes or criminal activity
Alistair Darling
Chancellor
Point-by-point: Darling
Q&A: Records lost
The chancellor blamed mistakes by junior officials at HMRC, who he said had ignored security procedures when they sent information to the National Audit Office (NAO) for auditing.
Mr Darling told MPs: "Two password protected discs containing a full copy of HMRC's entire data in relation to the payment of child benefit was sent to the NAO, by HMRC's internal post system operated by the courier TNT.
The package was not recorded or registered. It appears the data has failed to reach the addressee in the NAO."
He added: "The police tell me that they have no reason to believe that this data has found its way into the wrong hands.
"The police are not aware of any evidence that it has been used for fraudulent purposes or criminal activity."
Fraud protection
The HMRC has set up a Child Benefit Helpline on 0845 302 1444 for customers who want more details.
The data was sent on 18 October and senior management at HMRC were told it was missing on 8 November and the chancellor on 10 November.
MISSING DATA INCLUDES...
National insurance number
Name, address and birth date
Partner's details
Names, sex and age of children
Bank/savings account details
Mr Darling said banks were adamant that they wanted as much time to prepare for his announcement as possible.
He added: "If someone is the innocent victim of fraud as a result of this incident, people can be assured they have protection under the Banking Code so they will not suffer any financial loss as a result."
Mr Darling said people should monitor their accounts "for any unusual activity".
Chairman resigns
He said police were investigating the disappearance of the two discs. He also announced that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which monitors HMRC, was likely to investigate the incident.
It is the latest and by far the most serious of a string of missing data incidents at HM Revenue and Customs.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Check your bank statements for odd transactions
Monitor your account if you bank online
Change your account password if it is a date of birth or name
Source: Apacs
How worried should you be?
HMRC chairman Paul Gray resigned earlier after the latest incident came to light.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said: "Let us be clear about the scale of this catastrophic mistake - the names, the addresses and the dates of birth of every child in the country are sitting on two computer discs that are apparently lost in the post, and the bank account details and National Insurance numbers of 10 million parents, guardians and carers have gone missing.
"Half the country will be very anxious about the safety of their family and the security and the whole country will be wondering how on earth the government allowed this to happen."
'Ancient' computers
He urged the government to "get a grip" and said it was the "final blow for the ambitions of this government to create a national ID database" as "they simply can not be trusted with people's personal information".
Liberal Democrat Acting Leader Vince Cable said it was now the Treasury and not the Home Office that was "not fit for purpose".
CHILD BENEFIT
Available to the parents, normally mother, of every child in UK under 16
Older children in full-time education still eligible
Taken up by almost 100%
It amounts to £18.10 a week for a first-born child
For subsequent children - it amounts to £12.10 a week
Timeline: Benefit records loss
"Why does HMRC still use CDs for data transmission in this day and age? The ancient museum pieces it is currently using for computing must be replaced.
"After this disaster how can the public possibly have confidence in the vast centralised databases needed for the compulsory ID card scheme.
"Where does the buck stop after this catalogue of disasters?"
Giving his reaction, the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, said: "This is an extremely serious and disturbing security breach."
Mr Thomas welcomed the Chancellor's announcement of an independent review of the incident by Kieran Poynter of PricewaterhouseCoopers and said he would decide on further action once he has received the report.
"Searching questions need to be answered about systems, procedures and human error inside both HMRC and NAO," said Mr Thomas.
The prime minister's official spokeswoman said Gordon Brown has "full confidence" in Mr Darling. She added that Mr Darling has not offered to resign.
- Re: 英税务局丢失千万份个人保密资料posted on 11/20/2007
令狐可以不缴税了?恭喜恭喜! - Re: 英税务局丢失千万份个人保密资料posted on 11/20/2007
八十一子 wrote:
令狐可以不缴税了?恭喜恭喜!
I wish so. But it's more likely somebody steals my identity then applys for a mortgage or credit card then I end up paying the bills for them .:)
National Insurance theft would be a long term issue then. - Re: 英税务局丢失千万份个人保密资料posted on 11/20/2007
I thought this is an American patent. But obviously I am wrong. :-)
丢失千万份个人保密资料
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