Why Are These Places So Bad At Data Protection?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34127740

[jim360]

There's a certain irony in that because, presumably, some of the people whose names have been released weren't that good at protection either...

[Canary42]

All that was leaked was their e-mail names/addresses (by using CC or TO instead of BCC) I would have thought that such people would use disguised IDs for this purpose anyway. Or am I being naive ?

[bednobs]

because it's an incredibly easy mistake to make

[ToraToraTora]

it's an incredibly easy mistake to avoid, only use bcc! So may people do it though, I get emails all the time with racks of addresses.

[bednobs]

yes - as i said easy to do

[ludwig]

You know when you want to send a mail to a group, and instead of the name of the group appearing the addressee, it lists every single person in the f*ing group..yep, we've all done it - I know I have. I blame Thatcher, and Bill Gates.

[mikey4444]

I agree...its a very easy mistake to make. Years ago I sent a message to everybody in my Company by mistake. Luckily it wasn't very controversial, but it was my use of the cc function that was the cause of the mistake. I am not sure if this case demonstrates a general disregard for data protection.

[Old_Geezer]

In that case (and I didn't read the article but heard it on the TV) I suspect human error, putting all the names in the send box rather than a group in the BCC box ?

Security can't be easy anyway, crackers find flaws in operating systems and exploit them. Software is widespread and has to work with multiple other software, exploits are difficult to spot. And poor coding practice can be an issue too. The only safe system is one no one else can get to.

[jno]

it's not really "these places"; as said, it's an easy and common error. I do wonder though if they can't customise their email system so that anything labelled a group email automatically accepts only BCC addressees. Nothing is foolproof, but it might make it a lot harder to do than just one click in the wrong place.

[youngmafbog]

It's because they employ incompetents and the left wingers wont let them be sacked.

[ToraToraTora]

no hackers needed in these cases OG, the addresses are sent out for the harvesters in plain sight.

[Hopkirk]

Thy were only sent out to other people on the list though.

[ToraToraTora]

yes Hopkirk, and how many of those recipients have malware on their PC? there are address harvesters that read through emails and store anything that looks like an email address, wallop!

[jno]

address harvesters don't know and don't care if you've got HIV, though.

[ToraToraTora]

no but when the subject line is attached, that data may be useful to the unscrupulous. Nothing bad has happened, yet, but I think the owners of those addresses are rightly worried about potential blackmail etc