Risk: Informational
According to the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, a 'horrifying' number of organisations have breached data protection rules in the last year. Offending companies include Orange, Barclays and NatWest and Mr Thomas was made aware of about 8400 personal information breaches.
Offences included 12 high street banks found guilty of discarding customers' personal details in unsecured bins outside their premises, call centre staff shared log-ins and concerns over passwords for temporary staff.
Mr Thomas said: "The roll call of banks, retailers, government departments, public bodies and other organisations which have admitted serious security lapses is frankly horrifying. My message to those at the top of organisations is to respect the privacy of individuals and the integrity of the information held about them, to embrace data protection positively and to be sure you are not the business or political leader who failed to take information rights seriously."