The last fiscal year has not been kind to the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Justice and the Department for Works and Pensions.  It seems that a string of thefts have resulted in the potential jeopardy of around 63,000 individuals who have had some connection to these government agencies.  Unfortunately, while details are still limited at this point, some facts have become clear.  One of the most troubling was the delay which the government took before admitting that these breaches were so rampant.  Indeed, they never actually contacted the people who were potential victims of identity theft and left it up to the news agencies to report the incidents.

It appears that the largest singular incident involved the Ministry of Justice and some contractors who were working on a variety of projects for the institution.  Part of the project required the contractor to have personal data about people within the ministry on discs.  Although the ministry was supposed to get these discs right back once the job was complete, it seems that no one remembered until about six months after the completion of the work.  At that point, the contractor was contacted and he returned the discs.  It is this window of six months which is having some security experts worried.  The discs contained names, addresses, birth dates, and some bank account information.  This is the type of material that an identity thief could use to steal the financial benefits of an individual.

Another incident involved a laptop that was lost from the main offices of the ministry.  No police reports were filed about the lose, so the possibility of theft was ruled out in the beginning, although no spokesman for the organization has come forward to explain why this was the decision.  The laptop contained information on over 14,000 people who had defaulted on payments that they received as part of their sentences.  As a result of the loss of this laptop, the defaulters have not been charged the last few months and the ministry is working quickly to make sure that no one is loosed from their legal responsibilities of paying for their crimes.

The ministry also reported that it has had at least two times in the last year where it has lost paperwork which contained sensitive data.  Efforts are being made to tighten up regulations so that such loses do not happen in the future.  Other possibilities to prevent further accidents involves switching to a paperless system and making sure that anyone with access to sensitive material does not download the material onto discs or flash sticks.

In all of this, while the breaches are not necessarily considered severe, it is easy to see why so many people are investing in ID theft subscription services, such as Lifelock.  With these subscriptions, costing only a minimal amount of money every month, customers can get a piece of mind involving their personal information.  Lifelock works by having monitors at all three major credit bureaus.  Whenever a new credit card or loan application is filed, it has to go through a bureau.  Once the paperwork is received, the company puts a temporary hold on the processing until it can verify that the information is legitimate and not a fraudulent attempt.  If this proves to be a case, the application is canceled and identity theft is prevented.