How to Survive a Data Breach: A Pocket Guide

Introduction

‘The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry,’ and ‘Rules are made to be broken,’ are statements that have never been truer than in the electronic age. Barely a week goes by without some unfortunate data controller having to admit their company has fallen victim to a data breach.

In the 12 months to September 2008, official figures show that, in the UK alone, the details of 29 million citizens were lost in data breaches, many of these in the infamous case in which HM Revenue and Customs lost 25 million consumer details in the post. And this is despite strict rules governing how personal data is stored under the Data Protection Act.

The huge number of incidents might be worrying, but they are just the ones that have been reported ...