Police search fails to find child benefit data CDs
By Andy McCue
Published: 5 December 2007 12:41 GMT
The government is offering a £20,000 reward to anyone who finds the missing HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) discs containing 25 million child benefit records, after the initial police search failed to find them.
The search for the missing CDs has been led by a core team of 47 detectives and computer experts from the Metropolitan Police's Specialist and Economic Crime Command.
Now that the main search has finished without finding the CDs, the Met has appealed to all staff at HMRC, the National Audit Office and the Treasury to check at work and "other locations" for the discs. HMRC courier TNT will also ask its staff to help with the search for the CDs.
Security from A to Z
Click on the links below to find out more...
A is for Antivirus
B is for Botnets
C is for CMA
D is for DDoS
E is for Extradition
F is for Federated identity
G is for Google
H is for Hackers
I is for IM
J is for Jaschan (Sven)
K is for Kids
L is for Love Bug
M is for Microsoft
N is for Neologisms
O is for Orange
P is for Passwords
Q is for Questions
R is for Rootkits
S is for Spyware
T is for Two-factor authentication
U is for USB sticks/devices
V is for Virus variants
W is for Wi-fi
X is for OS X
Y is for You
Z is for Zero-day
In addition to the police appeal, HMRC is now offering a reward of "up to £20,000" for information leading to the safe return of the CDs - despite the fact acting Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable last week claimed the data on the discs could be worth up to £1.5bn to criminals on the black market.
A statement from the Met said: "The enquiry has been particularly challenging due to how common compact discs are within offices, the number and size of the offices requiring searches and the number of organisations where the package may have travelled through."
The Met maintained there is no evidence the lost data has ended up in the hands of criminals.
Data protection watchdog the Information Commissioner has also revealed that a number of private and public sector organisations have come forward and admitted problems with data security following the HMRC breach.
when someone finds them
a) how do you know they...
Karen Challinor
OK - so IF I did know where the disks are you thin...
Roger Huffadine
Is that £20,000 "tax free"?
Richard
As the great Terry Gilliam once wrote: "Up to incl...
Graham Coles
And after all this fuss does anyone seriously thin...
Nick Cole
HMRC data breach prompts password and PIN changes
Are UK data laws fit for purpose?
Minister calls for ID cards review
HMRC's missing discs: Just a warning shot
ICO: HMRC breach - where were the tech safeguards?
HMRC email rejected filtering of sensitive data
A Programme Manager with in depth knowledge of police organisations is required for this role based in Central London. The post holder will be ...
Desktop computer (Windows 2000, XP and Vista) maintenance, administration and trouble shooting (Anti-spyware, Antivirus, backup etc. ...
You're passionate about your work and always looking for a newchallenge.We'd love to hear from you. We are experts in thecreation of massive live ...
Agenda Setters 2008
Welcome to the ninth annual Agenda Setters poll – silicon.com's list of the top 50 most influential individuals in the technology and IT industries, from techies and CIOs to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Find out more in our latest special report.
Stories from the web...
Copyright © 2008 CBS Interactive Limited. All rights reserved. Top of page
Nick Heath
Next stop HMRC: How TfL CIO will shake up the taxman
Interview: Phil Pavitt, CIO Transport for London, on making IT boring
Gary Bettis
Public sector CIOs: It's your time to shine
Comment: Efficiency programme offers big challenges and opportunities
Gary Lynch
How e-coding can prevent NHS slip-ups
Barcodes to run in their blood
silicon.com
Inbox: Chip and PIN latest big IDea - and still no readers
"PIN numbers do not present much of a challenge to a determined crook"
Jo Best
From army officer to IT chief - CPS CIO David Jones
Profile: What IT and the military have in common
silicon.com
Inbox: Government IT ignoring red lights?
"The civil servants who specify these projects are not competent technically"