Skip to main content

Human Error, a common theme in the ICO data breach findings #UK #ICO


The ICO recently carried out a study of the recent security incidents that have been reported or notified to the ICO. It's no shock that data breaches are on the rise with two-thirds of sectors studied reporting an increase in the first quarter compared with the same time a year ago, according to new ICO figures.
The data protection watchdog, ICO have shown findings for the period 1 January – 31 March 2016 and uncovered some worrying statistics. Below are the key data security issues for each sector: 

Data security incidents by type:

The main data security issues within the health sector were:
Data being posted or faxed to an incorrect recipient – 22% of incidents.
Loss or theft of paperwork – 20% of incidents.
The main issues for local government were:
Data being posted or faxed to an incorrect recipient – 23% of incidents.
Failure to redact data – 16% of incidents.
Loss of theft of paperwork – 14% of incidents.
The main issues for education were:
Loss or theft of unencrypted devices - 25% of incidents.
Insecure webpages (including hacking incidents) – 19% of incidents.
Data being sent by email to an incorrect recipient – 14% of incidents.
The main issues for general business were:
Insecure webpages (including hacking incidents) – 42% of incidents.
Data being sent by email to an incorrect recipient – 14% of incidents.
Loss or theft of paperwork – 11% of incidents.
The main issues for finance, insurance and credit were:
Data being posted or faxed to an incorrect recipient – 20% of incidents.
Insecure webpages (including hacking incidents) – 16% of incidents.
Data being sent by email to an incorrect recipient – 12% of incidents.
Loss of theft of paperwork – 12% of incidents.
The main issues for the legal sector were:
Loss or theft of paperwork – 28% of incidents.
Data being sent by email to an incorrect recipient – 16% of incidents. 

Full article from ICO Here
What can we draw from this? The key theme here is; Human error. You can have all the tools in the shop but if your users aren't continually educated about Security issues, the policies and procedures the company put in place then these incidents will happen.

The figures are particularly concerning for organizations given the coming EU GDPR, which will levy fines of up to 4% annual global turnover on firms which don’t comply with the new regulation, set to land in May 2018.











Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HCA International fined 200k for Data loss #ITSecurity #DataSecurity #unencrypted

HCA International Ltd, private health firm are the latest to be fined by the ICO.  They have been fined £200,000 for failing to keep data secure after it was found that conversations had by IVF patients were online. Audio recordings of interviews with patients were being sent to a company unencrypted in India for transcription. The Indian company was unable to maintain secure access due to an unsecure server. By failing to ensure its subcontractor had acted responsibly, HCA International failed to comply with the seventh data protection principle. More details on the monetary penalty notice click here Supplier Risk is a huge concern for most companies - You may have all the bells and whistles when it comes to security your infrastructure but your partners may not. Failing to ensure due diligence in the Supply chain costs - with HCA it was £200,000 - next year it would of been much more!! #EUGDPR
1 comment
Read more

Microsoft Azure faults knock websites offline

Faults with Microsoft's cloud computing platform have knocked many third-party sites offline, as well as disrupting the US firm's own products. Microsoft Azure's status page  says problems began at 00:52 GMT across the globe. Its European operations are taking the longest to fix. Access to Microsoft's Office 365 on-line suite of apps and its Xbox Live gaming facility are among services affected. The faults could set back the company's efforts to sell Azure. Microsoft is attempting to make gains on the market leader, Amazon Web Services, as well as IBM, Google and others offering rival products. Their pitch is that it is more efficient for companies to rent computing power from a large tech firm than owning and managing their own computer servers or going to a smaller provider. "Microsoft is investigating an issue affecting access to some Microsoft services," said Adrienne Hall, general manager at the company. "We are working to restore ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Top 5 Considerations for Effective Security Awareness #ITSecurity #SecurityAwareness #PeopleIssue

"If you want to change attitudes, start with a change in behaviour"  This quote was taken by William Glasser, an American psychiatrist. I think it's really relative to this subject, as a user, you may be fully aware of IT/Cyber Security and how your actions can reflect on the company you work for...However it doesn't mean it is going to change the way you work. As a company you need to start to change users   behaviours ... The below is taken from the company I work for ZeroDayLab  blog, which I feel, are the key components to Security Awareness/Behaviour Training. Top 5 are below (part 2 to follow) Interested in the datasheet? please let me know... Security, The Risk of Human Error...& a Tricky Thing Called Motivation… Top 10 Considerations for Truly Effective Security Awareness Training Even though 52% of breaches are attributed to human error, security awareness is still quite a new thing for many companies....
Post a Comment
Read more