Information security and mishandling of personal information are increasingly important risk areas for organizations, and two reports on a massive data disaster at a U.K. government department show how badly things can go wrong.
The reports cited Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, the British tax authority, for its “deplorable failures” to comply with data protection laws. Its performance was so bad that the country’s data regulator has threatened to open criminal proceedings if the department fails to improve.
