Secure USB Drive

The UK Government’s former Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, was recently interviewed by SC Magazine. It makes a very interesting read, especially on what Thomas describes as “politicians, senior civil servants and managers … not understanding the technologies and the risks.”

It also gives an insight into plans to introduce stronger powers for the Information Commissioner’s Office, such as increased notification fees for data breaches for larger organisations, new powers of inspection and much stronger sanctions against companies that have experienced breaches.

New sanctions are also planned to be introduced from next year when ‘a company or government department deliberately or recklessly ignore data protection requirements, and cause serious harm, then they will face a civil penalty’. Thomas explains that this will affect anyone who is a data controller, and there are over 300,000 of them in the UK.

All the more reason for organizations to evaluate their approach to portable data security – and take appropriate action to secure critical information.