37 Million Personal Records Lost By Government Bodies: Avoidable With Digital DNA

Published 17th July 2008

New digital DNA application could make lost data security issues a thing of the past...

16 July, 2008 – UK security integrator, Torotech, has today called on all government departments to implement tighter security measures for removable devices such as USB sticks and removable hard drives. With over 37 million pieces of personal information lost in 2007 the risk of loss through such devices is greater than ever.

In a report provided to parliament in January by The Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, it was found that data lost had included names, addresses, passport details, hospital records and even credit card numbers.

During a three month period in 2007 the Department of Health recorded numerous instances of patient data loss across all Health Authorities with the majority of the losses from computing devices with data held in an insecure format.

Torotech has recently become the first UK security integrator to offer a low cost digital DNA solution that protects access to removable devices, such as USB sticks, meaning that only authorised computers can view the data held on them. In addition, the solution will also authenticate removable devices plugged into a network, alert administrators if unauthorised devices are plugged in and provide a much tighter level of security than ever before.

David Hawksworth, managing director of Torotech said; “USB and other data storage devices were originally developed to assist organisations to transfer data from one system to another but with the proliferation of such devices they have now compromised everyone’s personal security.”

He continued; “With digital DNA the solution to data loss and overall security can be greatly simplified and at Torotech we want to help government departments get to grips with the way they transfer and store data in order to reduce the risks of unauthorised access. ”

The digital DNA applications from Torotech were developed by Mobilegov and are currently being reviewed by a number of European banks, financial services providers and government departments.

www.torotech.co.uk