Most UK privacy cock-ups are ‘careless’ spaffing of personal data – watchdog

Most of the data breach incidents analysed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in a three-month period earlier this year concerned errors in the way personal information was disclosed, the watchdog has said.

The ICO said that it had looked at 335 data breach incidents between 1 April and 30 June 2013 and found that in 175 of the cases personal data had been “disclosed in error”.

“That covers everything from emails being sent to the wrong people to information erroneously included in freedom of information responses, but invariably they can be described as careless,” Sally-Anne Poole, enforcement group manager of the civil investigations unit at the ICO, said in a blog.

SOURCE: theregister.co.uk